Mubasher: Illegal cigarettes have incurred GCC countries $210 million in lost revenue since the excise taxes were introduced in the region in 2017, Philip Morris International (PMI) said in a report.

According to official estimates released by the global tobacco giant, illegal cigarette sales in GCC rose to 5.3% in the first half of 2018, from 1.6% in the same period last year.

The study, conducted in collaboration with Oxford Economics, also revealed that Kuwait has had the lowest rates of the illicit cigarette consumption, registering only a 1% increase during the above-mentioned period, while the lion share going to Saudi Arabia, with a 6.6% increase amid a higher rate expectations.

In 2017, cigarette consumption in the Kingdom reached 27.5 billion, down from 34 billion in 2015, while illicit cigarette consumption rose to 571 million cigarettes in 2017 from 484 million in 2016.

In July 2017, the Marlboro manufacturer urged consumers to “stop smoking” and switch to its smoke-free products.

In an effort to provide smokers with less harmful alternatives to traditional cigarettes, the world’s largest publicly traded tobacco company ventured into heated tobacco products.

“If you're a smoker looking to improve your health, the best thing is to quit. But if you would otherwise continue smoking, all we want is for you to stop smoking and go to a smoke-free product,” Joshua Gideon Townsend, manager corporate affairs RRP, PMI, said at the time.