Tajik authorities have restored tax benefits for domestic millers and flour suppliers. The bill requiring amendments to the country’s law on the national budget for 2019 provides for setting the rate of value added tax for wheat delivered to the country for flour-grinding enterprises at 10 percent.
A regular sitting of Tajikistan’s lower house (Majlsi Namoyandagon) of parliament, presided over by its head, Shukurjon Zuhurov, took place today.
Parliamentarians unanimously voted for approving the bill requiring amendments to the countries law on the national budget for 2019.
Worked out by the government, the bill, in particular, provides for setting the rate of value added tax (VAT) for wheat delivered to the country for flour-grinding enterprises at 10 percent
The tax benefits for domestic mills and flour suppliers were cancelled at the beginning of this year and the current rate of VAT for wheat deliveries is 18 percent.
Meanwhile, flour prices are continuing to rise in the country. Over the first two months of this year, flour prices have risen nearly 6.0 percent in Tajikistan.
According to the official statistical data, the price for one kilogram of grade I wheat flour rose from 3.43 somoni in late December to 3.59 somoni in late January.
Specialists at the National Bank of Tajikistan said that the price hike has resulted from the rising cost of wheat in the countries that provide the bulk of Tajikistan’s wheat and flour imports and rising transit tariffs.
According to data from the Agency for Statistics under the President of Tajikistan, Tajikistan has imported nearly 200,000 tons of wheat over the first two months of this year, which was 90 percent more than in the same period last year.
Over the same two-month period, Tajikistan has reportedly imported more than 12,000 tons of wheat flour, which was nearly four times more than in January-February 2018.
Kazakhstan provides the bulk of Tajikistan’s wheat and flour imports. According to Kazinform, export price for Kazakh wheat rose 24.6 percent in January this year.
