Following President Dr Julius Maada Bio’s decision to grant his Presidential Assent to the Finance Act 2022, import duty on cement and iron rod has been reduced from 20% to 10% and from 10% to 5% respectively. This decision is effective immediately.

According to a senior official in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, this decision means that, importers of cement and iron rod should immediately take necessary action to reduce the whole sale and retail prices of the two essential commodities immediately.

One of the biggest cement importers in Sierra Leone, Fawaz Building Materials yesterday welcomed President Bio’s decision to reduce import duty on cement and iron rod.

“We are expecting a vessel full of cement by the end of this month…The price of a bag of imported cement will definitely go down”, a spokesman for Fawaz Building Materials told the Global Times.

Meanwhile, import duty on liquified petroleum gas has been reduced to 0%. Witholding tax threshold has increased from Le500,000 to Le1,000,000.