Vietnamese Annually Spend Nearly 360 Mln USD on Alcoholic Drinks: Report

Vietnamese annually spend nearly 360 mln USD on alcoholic drinks: report

HANOI, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) — Vietnamese people are estimated to annually spend 6 trillion Vietnamese dong (359.3 million U.S. dollars) on alcohol, wine and beer, local newspaper Youth on Tuesday quoted the Hanoi Psychiatry Hospital as reporting.

Alcohol abuse often results in mental illness, domestic violence and traffic accidents, said the hospital in Hanoi capital. The percentage of patients admitted to the hospital for treatment of alcohol-related mental illness rose to 7.03 percent in 2004 from 0.31 percent in 1990.

Vietnam will impose, on Jan. 1, 2010, luxury tax rate of 55 percent on alcohol with alcohol content of 20 percent upwards and 20 percent on that with content of below 20 percent; and 50 percent on all kinds of beer, under a draft amended law on special consumption tax.

Current luxury tax rates on alcohol are 20 percent (imposed on products with alcohol content of below 20 percent), 30 percent ( content of between 20 and under 40 percent), and 65 percent ( content of over 40 percent). The existing rates of 75 percent are applicable to bottled and canned beer, 40 percent to draught beer and “bia hoi”, a kind of Vietnamese-style low-cost beer.

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