A number of nongovernmental organizations and civil society activists expressed their concern about the policy to increase excise duties on tobacco products only by adjusting these to the inflation rate forecast for the year 2016 (10.5%). In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Pavel Filip, these say the setting of such a low rate of increase in excise duties on cigarettes for 2016 cannot be justified, IPN reports.

The letter says that the Ministry of Finance proposed to increase the excise duties on cigarettes to a much lesser extent than the rate of inflation of 10.5%. Thus, for one pack of filtered cigarettes sold for 10 lei, the increase in the excise duty for 2016 will represent only 5.2%, while for a pack sold for 20 lei - only 2.6%. This applies similarly to the cigarettes without filters, for which the increase in the excise is only 10%, meaning it would be under the projected inflation.

“Setting such a low rate of increase for cigarette excise duties for 2016 cannot be justified by the existence of regional context constraints. It should be noted that in Ukraine the lowest total value of excise duties on cigarettes for 2016 is approximately €15 per 1,000 cigarettes, in Romania the same figure stands at €90. Therefore, it is unclear why the Government plans for the year 2016 only €11 per 1,000 cigarettes with filters and only €2.6 for those without filters,” reads the letter.

The NGOs says that through the Association Agreement with the European Union, the Government pledged to gradually approach the excise duties on tobacco products to €90 per 1,000 cigarettes until 2025. “This situation makes us think that the Government deliberately does not use the internal leverage to accumulate money in the budget and, at the same time, strongly urges the development partners to help it cover the budget-related costs,” says the letter.

“By this letter we request to review the cigarette excise policy for the year 2016, to ensure that it becomes a more appropriate tool to increase the budget revenues and to achieve the health objectives related to the reduction of tobacco use.”

Among the signatories of the letter are Viorel Soltan, of the Center for Health Policies and Research; Victor Ursu, of Soros Foundation Moldova; Antonita Fonari, of the “Young and Free” Resource Center; Ala Yatsko, of the Union for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Harm Reduction, and Alexandr Kurashov, of the NGO ”Positive Initiative”.