SUVA, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Fiji will raise its value added tax (VAT) to 15 percent from August this year for those items that are not zero-rated.
Biman Prasad, deputy prime minister and minister for finance, made the announcement on Friday in the 2023-2024 National Budget.
Effective from August 1, there will be two rates of VAT in the Pacific island country, with the 21 items on zero VAT to continue.
The government has added prescribed medicines to the zero-VAT list to make it 22 items, with majority of them being basic food.
However, the supply of all other goods and services will attract a VAT rate of 15 percent.
Prasad said these measures will generate additional net VAT collections estimated at about 446 million Fijian dollars (about 199 million U.S. dollars) for the government.
Fiji's current main standard VAT rate of 9 percent - one of the lowest in the Pacific region - is being withdrawn. ■