A recent report by the Advocate Institute has revealed another crisis faced by the women of this country due to the current economic collapse. (Sri Lanka Latest News)
The institute points out that 40% of women between the ages of 15 and 47 in Sri Lanka have stopped using sanitary napkins.
This survey has been conducted based on the data of the report on household income released by the Department of Population and Statistics in the year 2019.
However, commenting on this, the institute that conducted the survey says that although all import raw material taxes were removed for domestically produced sanitary napkins in October 2022, an 18% tax has again been imposed on sanitary raw materials in the 2023 VAT amendment.
In 2019, Advakata said that 21 lakh women and girls between the ages of 15 and 47 did not use sanitary towels due to financial difficulties.
It is about 40% of all women and girls in that age group.
The related survey has shown that this number may increase further with the increase in the cost of living.
It is estimated that a woman has to spend about Rs. 375 on one menstrual cycle.
It is a high cost of Rs.4500 annually.
At present, a tax of 51.07% has been imposed on imported sanitary napkins.
The government gets an annual income of about 37 million rupees.
It is only a percentage of 0.0021% of the total tax revenue.
Although it is not a significant tax revenue, it has a great impact on a woman’s biological cycle.
