National Breweries laments proposed increment on opaque beer excise duty

National Breweries managing director Martin Makomva says government’s proposal to increase the specific excise duty on opaque beer will kill the traditional beer industry. In its 2022 budget, government has proposed to increase the specific excise duty on opaque beer to 50 ngwee per litre (packaged) and to one Kwacha for (unpackaged) from 15 ngwee, as one of the revenue raising measures. Commenting on the development in an interview, Saturday, Makomva said the proposed increment would be harmful to the industry. He said stakeholders had already started engaging government to see if there could be a reduction in the proposed rates. “We have already started the process of engaging government with a view to reviewing those rates downwards because in...