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views or policies of the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), the Asian Development
Bank (ADB), its Board of Directors, or the governments they represent. ADBI does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this paper and accepts no responsibility for any consequences
of their use. Terminology used may not necessarily be consistent with ADB official terms.

Sri Lanka’s efforts on combatting obesity

and overweight through sugar-
sweetened beverage (SSB) taxation

Dr. Erandi Kularathna Nuwangi Hettiarachchi

Medical Officer Of Non Communicable Disease Assistant Director
Department of National Planning
Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine
Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka
Health System in Sri Lanka
• Providing Free Health Services at the point of access to all- (Primary,
Secondary and Tertiary level)
• Out of Pocket Expenditure- (40%)
• GDP Share on health– 3%(1.5% each public and private)
• Initiatives for addressing NCD
• Reorganizing Primary Health Care System with the support of Asian
Development Bank and World bank
• Life style modification through Healthy Life Centres
• Introducing Traffic Labeling System based on the sugar level - 2016
NCDs are estimated to account for 75% of total deaths in Sri Lanka
Consequences of sugar sweetened beverage (SSB)
Consumption

• 18% of males and 32% of

females are overweight.
• 6.5% of population 20 and
older are obese (up from 4.8
in 2010)
• The age-standardised
prevalence of diabetes is 10%.
• Every year Sri Lanka loses
52,000 years of healthy life.
Per capita consumption is growing fast…
SSBs Consumption per capita (2009=100)
180

170 167.0

160 156.2

150 147.9

139.3
140
131.7
130
121.9
120 115.7

110 107.9

100
100

90

80
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Household income and expenditure survey 2012-2013

Poorer urban households buy SSBs instead of necessary goods
Tax System

• Direct Tax –
• Personal Income Tax
• Corporate Income Tax,
• Tax on interest
• Indirect Tax-
• Value Added Tax (VAT)
• Excise Duties
• Import Duties
• Other Indirect tax- Nation Building Tax(NBT), CESS
 Introduction of SSB Taxation
Need Analysis
• Health sector policies focused to
address the issues related on NCD • Scientific Analysis
• National NCD Action Plan – Increase tax • Evidence based
for Unhealthy food Approach

Quick Response Support

• Political will
• Study report – August 2017 • Health Ministry
• Implement –November 2017 • Finance Ministry
• Consumer affairs authority
• Department of Customs
• International organization
 Implementation Arrangement
• Budget Speech – November-2017 by the Minister of Finance
• Estimated Revenue – Rs. 5000 mn (USD 31mn) ■ Amended the Regulations

• Tax Revenue (Local Production)

• 2017 - Rs.3.5 bn
• 2018 (1st quarter) – Rs.1.9 bn ‘ USD 12.5 mn
General effects of SSBs taxes
Discourage consumers from buying unhealthy items
Encourage producers to reformulate and decrease amount of sugar
• The three main companies (market share -95% )who are producing
beverages have already reduced the sugar amount
Current Status
• Still we are in the beginning – Not even a year passed
• Need to analyze the changes – Customer Behavioral Changes,
Market changes
• Products where non-sugar sweeteners have been added would
also be exempt from the SSB tax – Need to check the impact
• Settings based interventions: school canteen policies and
marketing policies
Way Forward
• Implementing an integrated health communication campaign
eg. Health Promotion school, Awareness campaign, Availability o
healthy foods,
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Proposed to introduce other products (Fruit juices)
• Strengthen Tax Administration System
• Tax policy give a long-term effect on the health system, therefore,
health impacts will not be seen immediately.
Thank You