Cambodia urged to increase tobacco tax

The World Health Organization on Tuesday urgedCambodiato increase taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products in order to raise state revenues and discourage smokers, according to a Xinhua Newswire story.

“Increasing tobacco tax will reduce consumption especially among the higher prevalence groups such as low-income and uneducated groups,” said Ayda A. Yurekli, co-ordinator for the WHO Tobacco Control Economics Unit, during a press briefing after a two-day, tobacco-taxation workshop in Phnom Penh.

She said that if the government increased tobacco tax by 10 per cent, smoking prevalence would fall by between 2.5 per cent and 5 per cent.

Speaking at the workshop, Hang Chuon Naron, secretary of state at the Cambodian Finance Ministry, said the government was considering increasing tobacco tax.

He said thatCambodia, with a 10 per cent tax on tobacco, was the country with the lowest tobacco tax.