KUALA LUMPUR: After the excise duty on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) was raised to 90 sen per litre, the government collected RM73.81mil from the tax between January and November 2025, says the Finance Ministry.
The ministry said the SSB duty was first imposed on July 1, 2019, at 40 sen per litre based on set sugar content thresholds.
The rate was later increased to 50 sen per litre from Jan 1, 2024, and again to 90 sen per litre from Jan 1, 2025.
It said the higher rate was among measures introduced to curb the consumption of high-sugar drinks among Malaysians and to support the Health Ministry’s War on Sugar campaign.
From July 1, 2019, to Dec 31, 2024, the SSB duty brought in RM447.54mil. With the RM73.81mil collected between January and November this year, total revenue from the tax now stands at RM521.35mil.
All collections have been credited to the Federal Consolidated Fund in line with Article 97 of the Federal Constitution.
However, under Budget 2025, part of the additional revenue from the higher duty has been set aside for the Health Ministry’s public health initiatives, particularly the supply of SGLT-2 inhibitor drugs for diabetes patients and the expansion of peritoneal dialysis treatment for end-stage kidney disease.
“For 2025, the government channelled RM25mil from SSB excise duty collections to the Health Ministry to fund War on Sugar advocacy programmes, the purchase of SGLT-2 medicines for Diabetes Mellitus patients and the provision of peritoneal dialysis facilities for end-stage kidney patients,” the ministry said in a written reply on Tuesday (Nov 25).
It was responding to Suhaizan Kayat (PH–Pulai), who had asked how much tax on sugar-sweetened beverages had been collected and how far the funds had been used to pay for diabetes medication and sustain the Peritoneal Dialysis Programme.
