The government has proposed an excise duty of Sh5 on imported sugar.
While reading the Budget in Parliament on Thursday, Treasury CS Njuguna Ndung’u said the move will discourage excessive sugar consumption in the country.
The CS said consumption of sugar has been associated with various ailments such as diabetes which has become common in many families.
"To discourage the consumption of sugar, I propose to the National Assembly to introduce excise duty on imported sugar at a rate of Sh5 shillings per kilogramme but this excludes sugar imported or purchased locally by registered pharmaceutical manufacturers for use in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products," he said.
According to the National Diabetes Statistics Report, 2023 some 37.3 million people have diabetes worldwide.
The report further shows that 28.5 million adults have been diagnosed with diabetes.
Some of the symptoms of diabetes include feeling more thirsty than usual, urinating often, loss of weight, feeling tired and weak among others.
This is even as Kenyans have recently witnessed a sudden rise in the price of sugar due to a 36 per cent drop in locally produced sugar in April.
The monthly data from the Sugar Directorate indicates that total sugar bagged in April 2023 declined to 31,970 metric tonnes (MT) from a total of 49,761 MT recorded in March as millers in the country suffered low supplies during the off-season.
Head of the Sugar Directorate Wilice Audi had earlier warned that failure to meet the country’s sugar import quota from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa due to an acute shortage of the commodity in the world market risked exposing local consumers to high prices.
The reduced local production coupled with low imports during the period under review meant consumers had to pay more for the commodity as a kilogram shot up 1.9 per cent as sales also decreased to 36,182 metric tonnes from 50,752 in March.
