Bulgaria’s cigarette excise tax stability leads to big drop in illicit trade

The share of sales of illicit cigarettes inBulgariawas estimated to have fallen to 15.3 per cent of the market by the middle of this year, according to a Novinite story quoting a survey conducted by an independent, unnamed market research company at the request of tobacco companies.

The results were presented on Thursday during a special meeting with the Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov, and Customs Agency head, Vanyo Tanov.

According to the survey, the mid-2012 figure represented the second consecutive year in which illicit sales had fallen.

Illicit sales accounted for 34.0 per cent of the market in 2010 but had fallen to 23.3 per cent last year.

The researchers attributed the fall in illicit sales to the government’s policy of keeping the excise duty rate unchanged since 2010, and to the efforts of state institutions.