Tobacco smuggling costs Yemen $38.5 million a year
07/20/99
Tobacco sumggling in Yemen is costing the impoverished Arab country an estimated five billion rials ($38.5 million) a year.
The Yemeni government was losing around 756 million rials in consumption tax revenue and the customs sector was losing 250 million rials in customs duties on the import of tobacco products, the Saudi-owned London-based Asharq al-Awsat daily said.
The large influx of smuggled tobacco caused local company sales to fall by 20-28 percent last year, the newspaper said.