Govt decided not to increase water resource tax from 1 cent to 5 cents per litre for small water bottling companies – Prof. Prasad

The coalition government has decided not to increase the water resource tax from 1 cent to 5 cents per litre for small water bottling companies that extract water between 0 to 9.999 million litres per month.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Professor Biman Prasad had announced during the 2024/2025 National Budget address that effective from 1st August 2024, the water resource tax rate will increase from 1 cent per litre to 5 cents per litre for these producers.

He had said the rate on extraction for producers over 10 million litres per month remains unchanged at 19.5 cents per litre which was increased from 18 cents per litre in the 2023 to 2024 budget.

Professor Prasad confirms that although the announcement was made to increase the water resource tax, it will not happen.

He says they have had discussions with the water bottlers, and they have decided that they will stick to 1 cent per litre in the meantime instead of the 5 cents per litre water resource tax.