By Peter Egwuatu & Providence Ayanfeoluwa
The Nigerian Breweries, NB Plc has decried the federal government’s proposed increase of excise duty on brewed products in the country saying it would add to the existing headwinds and would have implications for pricing.
The company also highlighted some of the socio economic challenges the incoming government has to address such as inflationary pressure, rising interest rates, foreign exchange, forex rates, implementation of naira re-design/cashless policy among others.
Speaking at a pre-Annual General Meeting media briefing, in Lagos, Managing Director/CEO, NB, Hans Essaadi said: “Business outlook in 2023 and beyond is hinged on government meeting current excise roadmap (2022 to 2024). Steep and sudden excise duty increase will be counterproductive and ultimately erode investors’ confidence. Predictable and sustained excise roadmap is a significant success factor for increased government revenue.
“2023 looks set to be another challenging year given the expectations that excise duty would be raised as it has the implication for price increase. We are already engaging with the authorities on this. There are also the forex challenges we have been facing coupled with the cash crunch faced across the country. All these had a huge impact on commercial and social activities with the brewery sub sector not left out,” he said.
On future prospects, he said: “Nevertheless we are poised to navigate the challenges in the short term to enable us deliver long term sustainable value to our shareholders.”
Source: Vanguard