As Fantamadi Fails To Account For Rice Revenue… • Tax On Rice Increases To 10% • Tax On Iron Ore Increases To 10% • Tax On Cemment Increases To 20% • Tax On Cooking Gas Increases To 5%

Just as Budget Adviocacy Network, a civil society organisation specialises in budget transparency and accountability, is questioning the whereabout of the 5% tax on rice in the year under review, Minister of Finance, Sheku Ahmed Fantamadi Bangura has increased taxes on political comodities in the country such as rice, iron rod and cement.
In his budget speech, the Minister said that restoring import duty on imported rice at the rate of 5 percent in 2024 to be increased to 10 percent in 2025 to support local production of rice, noting that the proceeds of this tax will be ring-fenced in the Agricultural Development Fund and used to support the Feed Salone Programme.
That they will be restoring import duty on iron rods at 10 percent from the current rate of 5 percent and on imported cement at 20 percent from 10 percent to encourage domestic production of these imported commodities.
“The additional amount collected will be deposited into the Infrastructure Development Fund to support the implementation of infrastructure projects,” he promised, pointing out that they will be restoring import duty on cooking gas at 5 percent to encourage domestic production.
According to the Finance Minister, the total import bill decreased marginally by 0.4 percent to US$ 968.6 million in the first half of 2023 relative to the same period in 2022.
“The value of rice and petroleum imports amounted to US$92.1 million and US$305.7 million, respectively. The combined value of rice and petroleum imports, accounted for 41 percent of the total import bill for the review period,” he said.
However, the Minister did not tell Sierra Leoneans of 92 Million Dollars of Imported Rice, the amount of revenue the government accrue.
Meanwhile BAN noted that in the 2024 budget, the government of Sierra Leone restored the import duty on rice at a rate of 5% and for iron ore and cement at a rate of 10% and that the proceeds from these taxes were proposed to be ring-fenced for an agricultural development fund to support the Feed Salone Initiative and the Infrastructural Development Fund, respectively.
Ban revealed that ten months into implementing these restored taxes, the government has yet to report to the people of Sierra Leone how much was generated and where they intend to use the ring-fenced resources.
“In any case, these taxes especially the duty on rice has caused more economic burdens on the people, increasing poverty and widening societal inequalities. The recent WFP Food Security Monitoring System report indicates that 82% of Sierra Leoneans are food insecure. The same report also shows that 68% of the surveyed households reported spending 75% of their total expenditure on food. This can be attributed to rising food prices, especially rice, the main staple food for Sierra Leone,” BAN maintained.