Govt suspends APNU/AFC-imposed 3% processing fee on milk, dairy products

The tax on the invoices for the importation of milk and dairy products has been removed by the Government.
This announcement was made on Monday by the Agriculture Ministry, which stated that a decision has been taken to suspend the processing fee on the invoice price for milk and dairy products.
In February 2016, only a few months after taking office, the then A Partnership National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government imposed a three per cent tax on all invoices for milk and other dairy products.
A release from the Ministry said it wishes to inform importers that the Government of Guyana has taken a decision to suspend, with immediate effect, the 3 per cent processing fee on the invoice price for milk and dairy products.
The release said that the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) has been instructed to discontinue the collection of the 3 per cent processing fee.
“All sanitary requirements for importing milk and dairy products remain enforced,” the release added.
Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha when contacted said the decision was taken as a move to ease the tax burden on citizens.
“Even before we came into office, we had promised the Guyanese people that we would reverse the taxes imposed on this nation by APNU. It is the importers that pay the tax but it is passed on to the consumer,” he told this publication.
Former Finance Minister Winston Jordan had introduced a series of new taxes in an effort to rake in more revenue for the then APNU/AFC Government. Among these was a tax on the invoice on all imported dairy products.
The tax was to assist the Government with funds to monitor the quality of milk and other dairy products imported to Guyana.
Mustapha said the GLDA has been given a subvention from the 2022 Budget to cover those administrative costs.
“We will not be taking that money back by taxing the importers who will pass it on to the consumer,” he explained while adding that the People’s Progressive Party Government is seeking to reduce the cost and the price consumers pay for items.
According to him, the suspension of the processing fee should see the cost of milk and other dairy products being reduced on the shelves.
Meanwhile, to ensure quality, the GLDA will conduct tests on samples of milk and other dairy products imported to Guyana.
Some of the lab tests are done overseas. Additionally, the GLDA visits manufacturers and producers overseas to ensure what they are producing is wholesome for Guyanese.
It is this cost the APNU/AFC invoice tax was intended to cater to. Nevertheless, Mustapha assured that with the suspension of the tax, there will be no compromise in the sanitary requirements for the importation of dairy products.
Meanwhile, according to the 2022 Agriculture Investment Prospectus, Guyana spends US$35 million annually to import milk.
This means that for just milk alone, the invoice tax exceeds $210 million annually. (G4)