More taxes on soft drinks likely

Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne hinted at the likelihood of further increasing tax on soft drinks containing sweeteners and would not apply to bottles of milk.

The minister said multinational companies are concerned about the huge losses they had incurred by colour coding and tax increases which had resulted in the price of a 1.5 litre bottle of soft drinks increasing from Rs.220 to Rs.330

He said these companies had now shifted to the production of zero-sugar soft drinks. (Dayaseeli Liyanage)