Senegal: food stock cubes now taxed at 25%

Audio 01:23

A woman prepares a dish of rice and fish in a street restaurant in Dakar (illustrative image).

AFP - GEORGES GOBET

Text by: RFI Follow

4 min

In Senegal, they are present in most kitchens.

Food broths will now be taxed at 25%.

This is a new provision introduced by the amending finance law on the 2021 budget. The text was adopted at the last Council of Ministers.

The measure is part of the budgetary response to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.

It remains to be seen if it will upset habits.

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With our correspondent in Dakar,

Charlotte Idrac

In his small street restaurant, Sokhna offers daily specials: “Thiébou dieune

, Yassa, Kandia soup, mafé, chicken rice… 

”, dishes accompanied by the essential rice spiced up with a cubic broth.

“ 

I always put a little in the pot, it's to give flavor, 

” she explains.

Maggi, Jumbo, Tem Tem or even Joker… There is plenty to choose from in the food broth market.

In his shop, Abdourahmane, he offers three brands: " 

All three, it costs 25 francs

 ", he explains.

25 CFA francs, some dust of euros or 0.038 to be exact. But in a country of more than 16 million inhabitants, the tax measure will pay off big. According to the Ministry of Finance, with this measure, 25 billion CFA francs should go into the state coffers, or about 38 million euros.

The statement of the law does not mention the harmful effects of food broths on health, but recalls their composition: salt, flavor enhancers, or fat.

For these customers, the new tax is a good thing and it was better before: “ 

Before we took salt and smoked fish,” said

one customer

.

“We have heard that it causes a lot of illnesses.

Personally, we want to eat yesterday's dish, which our old women used to cook without broth.

It changes ”,

testifies another

.

All small cubes will be subject to the new specific tax, whether local or imported.

To read also: Senegal wishes to register “thiébou dieune” at Unesco

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  • Senegal

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  • Gastronomy

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