Cairo – Mubasher: Eastern Co raised the price of Cleopatra Black Label by 18.7% after increasing the value-added tax (VAT) on cigarettes.  

The Egyptian tobacco company has set the product’s price at EGP 19 instead of EGP 18 from EGP 16, the firm highlighted in a statement to the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) on Sunday.

Last Thursday, Eastern Co announced the new prices of its products after the VAT on cigarettes hiked, as the increase ranges between 12.5% and 25%.

Egypt’s finance minister Amr El-Garhy had previously said that imposing VAT on tobacco will boost total tax revenues for fiscal year 2017/2018 by EGP 4 billion.

Eastern Co had posted a net profit of EGP 1.04 billion in the three-month ended September 2017, up from EGP 427.3 million in the prior-year period.