By Kondwani Magombo
Lilongwe, Mana: Government will downgrade cooking oil producers who will not reduce cooking oil prices following the exemption of VAT on the commodity, as announced by the Finance Minister in the 2022/23 National Budget.
Minister of Information and Digitalization, Gospel Kazako, said this in Lilongwe on Wednesday on the sidelines of a press briefing where he, and Minister of Energy, Ibrahim Matola, jointly outlined new developments within the energy sector.
He wondered why cooking oil manufacturers are still keeping the prices of the commodity high despite government’s removal of VAT on the same.
“Soon, we will be downgrading those cooking oil producers who will fail to comply to the demands of Malawians,” Kazako stated,
He added: “We understood them by removing the VAT on cooking oil but they are still clinging to the high prices; We know that these are the people who do not love Malawians.”
The Minister said government would do all it could to ensure that the cost of living for Malawians is bearable, even in the wake of global economic woes caused by the Russia-Ukraine War.
The prices of cooking oil in the country have been soaring since government re-introduced VAT on the commodity in July 2020.
Following the public outcry on the exorbitant prices, which oil manufacturers attributed to the re-introduction of VAT, government removed the tax in a bid that the refining companies would consequently bring the prices down.
Recently, the Consumer Association of Malawi (CAMA) also called on cooking oil manufacturers to reciprocate to the government gesture on the commodity by bringing the prices down.
Currently, the prices of 1litre, 2litres and 5litres has soared from around K1,000; K2,000; and K5,000 respectively in before July 2020 to nearly K4,000; K8,000.00 and K18,500, respectively.
