Sungai Buloh: The Health Ministry has announced plans to introduce a new tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). The new tax named the SSB tax, will be included in the upcoming Budget 2025.
Dr Dzulkefly said this follows the success of the last increase in tax where the current tax of 40 sen per litre of SSB was increased to 50 sen per litre within Budget 2024 as the national decline in consumption of sugary drinks saw a reduction of 9.25%.
“From this data, we can see that the SSB tax has worked in lowering sugar consumption across the country. With another increase, we hope more restaurants and individuals will be cautious about their sugar intake,” he said during a press conference on Tuesday (Sept 10) after the 20th-anniversary celebration of the Health Ministry’s training institute.
In addition to the SSB tax, the ministry plans to introduce a nutri-grade system for food and beverages. This system will rate products from A to D based on their sugar content.
“Products graded A will have no sugar or artificial sweeteners, while those with a B grade will contain only small amounts of sugar or sweeteners, and so on,” Dr Dzulkefly explained.
