: British American Tobacco Bhd has commended the Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz for announcing measures to the stop the tobacco black market in his Budget 2021 speech today.
The company also highlighted that the government’s move is both timely and necessary as Malaysia is currently the No. 1 in the world for illegal cigarettes, which take up 65% of the total market. “High taxes on legitimate cigarettes have created a huge demand for cheap, illegal cigarettes. The tobacco black market not only causes the loss of billions of ringgit in uncollected tax, it also funds crime, fuels corruption and drives the youth smoking rate.”