National Assembly confirms removal of 20% tax from cellphones

With the full backing of the National Assembly, the Government last evening successfully piloted a motion to remove the 20% tax on cell phones.

In moving the motion for the ‘Confirmation of the Customs (Amendment of First Schedule) Order of 2023″, the Minister of Finance, Dr Ashni Singh said the removal was in keeping with a commitment made by President Irfaan Ali last June. He said the impact will be felt across the country.

“With the confirmation of this order, every cellular phone that comes into Guyana will no longer attract a 20% duty that previously it would have attracted, and that immediately will redound to the benefit of the consuming public,” the Finance Minister told the Assembly.

Dr. Singh explained that ultimately, it will result in cell phones becoming even more affordable to the Guyanese people.

“It will quite clearly, an obviously will result in reduced cost of importation of these devices and therefore could reasonably be expected to improve the affordability of these devices to the ultimate consumer,” Minister Singh told the National Assembly.

He told the House that the removal of the 20% Customs duty on cell phones should not be seen in isolation, as it forms part of a series of measures taken by the Irfaan Ali Administration to promote improved connectivity, and increased access to telecommunications services at a reduced cost.

“It would sir, be recalled that one of the first actions taken by His Excellency, the President, when he assumed the presidency in August 2020, was to bring into operations the new Telecommunications Act, and that Act, of course, paved the way for the introduction competition in the Telecommunications Sector, and promoted increased private investment in telecommunications infrastructure. The result, sir, has been the billed out of telecommunications infrastructure, including the landing of new international or transnational fibre optic cables,” the Finance Minister said.

The liberalization of the Telecommunications Sector has also resulted in the entrance of new companies into the sector, resulting in the expansion of connectivity services in Linden, Essequibo and Berbice.

In 2021, the Value Added Tax (VAT) on residential and individual data was also removed, while in 2020, VAT was removed from the purchase of cell phones.