President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his capacity as Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policies on Monday sought the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers to revise the Social Security Contribution Levy imposed on the purchasing of paddy, production of rice and marketing.

Issuing a media statement yesterday, the State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said that the measure would result in a considerable fall in market prices of rice in the coming period.

During a tax review, it was found that the Social Security Contribution Levy is imposed during three occasions— purchasing paddy, production of rice and marketing.

In addition to the amount paid to the farmer for a kilo of paddy, the paddy producers had pointed out that approximately Rs.6-7 has been incurred over a kilogram of rice as social security tax apart from the additional cost that has to be borne for water, electricity, storage, transport etc. until the final product of one kilogram of paddy is produced and handed over to the customer within the process of rice production.

The measure is also aimed at providing farmers a higher price above Rs.100 per one kilogram of Nadu rice, sustaining the maximum price for rice in the market at present.

Earlier, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a proposal to implement a programme to distribute Nadu rice purchased by the government among low income earners free-of-charge.