COLOMBO, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka will introduce new excise duty laws, State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said on Friday at a function in Colombo.
The official said that most of Sri Lanka's existing excise duty laws are over 50 years old, which were mainly aimed at curbing moonshine liquor.
"Some of them also hinder the promotion of the leisure industry while providing ample loopholes for racketeers to exploit. There is no point in amending the existing excise laws. We are bringing in new laws," he said.
In recent years those who produce and sell illegal alcohol have started using modern technology to evade excise officers, the state minister said.
Therefore, excise officers need to be retrained to meet the challenges, in parallel with the introduction of new laws, he said. ■
