Here is a new overview of tobacco in Myanmar from the World Bank.
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/346331561049618627/pdf/Myanmar-Overview-of-Tobacco-Use-Tobacco-Control-Legislation-and-Taxation.pdf
The executive summary is below
How many of the recommendations have been implemented and how many have not?
Jamie
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Executive summary
Myanmar ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control on April 21, 2004. The
government tobacco control policies, especially new cigarette health warnings, which were introduced in
2016 and cover 75% of the pack main surface, as well as the increase of tobacco taxes already revealed
their effectiveness in overcoming the tobacco epidemic in the country.
Overall, the use of smoking tobacco did not change much over the last decade, while the structure of the
use did change: smoking of traditional cheroots declined, while cigarette smoking increased.
Smoking of local tobacco product cheroot is currently more popular among old rural women. Cheroot
production substantially decreased in Myanmar over recent years, and it has low chances to survive. The
government tries to slow down the decline of cheroot smoking in the country by keeping excise for
cheroots at a very low level (about 7% of the price). Such a policy has no public health justification. The
government has a much better option: to substantially increase the Specific Goods Tax (SGT) levied on
cheroots and to use the cheroot excise revenue to support the economically viable alternatives for those
women who currently work at cheroot factories.
On the other hand, annual cigarette sales in Myanmar increased from about 3 billion stick in 2005-2010
to about 10 billion sticks in 2015-2016. This increase was predetermined by the activities of the
transnational tobacco corporations, which re-entered the country in 2013 and used various promotional
activities to increase sales. Cigarettes in Myanmar are much cheaper than in neighboring countries, and
this situation encourages cigarette smuggling from Myanmar to India, Thailand, and Bangladesh, while
cigarette smuggling into Myanmar is very low. Actual cigarette consumption in Myanmar is much lower
than the volume of cigarette sales in the country.
The taxation policy can discourage cigarette smoking epidemic in Myanmar. The increase of cigarette
taxes in 2015-2017 already had some positive results: (1) cigarette affordability decreased, especially in
2016; (2) cigarette sales declined in 2017; (3) cigarette excise revenue increased. In 2019, the government
increased the tax burden for cigarettes (by 30-50%) and cheroots (by 100%), and this can have positive
consequences for both public health and government revenues.
These positive results can be reinforced by the following recommended actions:
• Reduce the number of specific tax tiers for cigarettes by one tier annually to tax all cigarettes by
the unified tax in three years. The unified tax makes the tax administration much easier.
• Specific excise tax rates for cigarettes should be increased annually by at least 50% in the first
three years and by at least 20% later to ensure the reduction in tobacco affordability and the
increase in the excise revenues.
• Tax rates for cheroots and other tobacco products (including smokeless tobacco) should be
substantially increased to further discourage their consumption.
• Tobacco use surveillance and monitoring should further develop in Myanmar, including a regular
collection of information on smoking prevalence, tobacco consumption, licit and illicit cigarette
sales, prices and other economic indicators.
