Despite the low turnout at its latest rally, the Association of Mauritian Consumers (ACIM) is pursuing its fight against the rise in the price of oil products.
After analysing the accounts and receipts of the State Trading Corporation (STC) for fuels for the period of December 20, 2021 and September 5, 2022, ACIM said that “billions of rupees” have been collected in terms of taxes.
Secretary General Jayen Chellum said the STC is not making any losses and has urged the state-owned entity to explain the said figures.
According to the ACIM, the contribution for the COVID-19 vaccines on gasoline and diesel has brought in Rs 437 million, Rs2.3 billion were collected as Excise Duty, VAT helped collect Rs2.3 billion while the contribution to the RDA amounted to Rs 583million.
A Rs 2 tax on fuel was announced during the 2021-2022 budget speech by the Minister of Finance, Renganaden Padayachy.
The decision was severely criticised as “most anti-COVID vaccines had been received as gift from friendly countries and under the COVAX program.
The contribution on rice, flour and domestic gas stood at Rs 1.5 billion for the nine first months.
With these figures, Jayen Chellum said the STC cannot talk about loss: “At this stage, there is no transparency on the price paid for the purchase of rice , flour and domestic gas.”
Source: Le Mauricien
