The Council of Ministers has approved the increase of the current value added tax rate to 18 percent with effect from the first of next year.
Also, Cabinet Spokesperson Minister Bandula Gunawardena said that several new tax proposals, including the imposition of VAT on certain goods and services to which Value Added Tax is not applicable, have been approved to be implemented from that day.
He also stated that this decision was taken with the aim of increasing the revenue targets based on the agreement with the International Monetary Fund.