Question

Failures on the prohibition of the sale of cigarettes and alcohol during the lockdown

Answer 1

Answer:

Economists behind an extensive survey of smokers say the lockdown ban on cigarette sales has been a spectacular failure and should be lifted as soon as possible.

More than 90% of the 12,000-plus smokers who completed an online questionnaire said they had bought cigarettes in spite of the ban.

On top of its failure to stop people smoking, the ban had strengthened illicit distribution networks that would now be difficult to dismantle, the economists said.

In a report entitled Lighting up the illicit market, members of the University of Cape Town’s (UCT’s) research unit on the economics of excisable products said the ban had:

Caused nearly half of smokers to switch from multinational brands to local brands;

Caused “hyperinflation” in which cigarette prices “skyrocketed” by 4.4% a day;

Made a post-lockdown price war inevitable, which would “ultimately lead to increased cigarette consumption in SA”;

Undone the progress the South African Revenue Service had made in stamping out illegal cigarettes and given illicit traders a foothold “where they previously could not compete on a quality basis”;