DUTY FREE DIESEL FOR COMMERCIAL FISHING

At the Executive Council meeting of Tuesday 24 June 2014 Councillors agreed to reduce the cost of diesel for full time commercial fishermen. This decision will see an exemption on the duty of diesel with effect from 1 April 2014.

St Helena Government is committed to the Island’s fishing industry and in line with the Sustainable Economic Development Plan, supporting the fishing industry is one of SHG’s key priorities.

Feedback from the fishing sector made it clear that the previous support offered (an Income Tax exemption up until 31 March 2014) had not been successful, given the low catches seen in recent months. This duty exemption aims to more effectively tackle the inherent economic issues in the fishing industry where diesel represents a high fixed cost that is difficult to absorb when catches are low.

The current duty on diesel is 27p per litre. A duty exemption based on the latest published fuel prices will mean full time commercial fishermen will now receive diesel at a cost of 65.6p per litre. Based on estimated consumption, this would cost SHG just under £20,000 per annum in uncollected duty.

SHG

1 July 2014

 

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St Helena Government Communications Hub

Telephone: 22470
Email: kimberley.peters@sainthelena.gov.sh