Qatar announced earlier that beginning tomorrow, taxes and the prices of tobacco products in the country are set to go up.

This announcement has led to many shopkeepers hoarding supplies, eyeing excessive profits, and thus creating an artificial shortage for the product, reported The Peninsula.

With many smokers running around to get as many cigarettes as they can, the demand is quite high, adding to the artificial market.

Earlier, while announcing Qatar’s 2019 budget, the finance ministry had said it would impose ‘selective tax’ on health-damaging goods.

“The selective tax law is designed to impose taxes on certain health-damaging goods, and it’ll be implemented by the beginning of 2019. The law includes a 100% tax on tobacco and its products and energy drinks and a 50% tax on sugary drinks,” it had been announced.

Many grocery stores said they were entirely out of stock of cigarettes and said they had stock of only relatively unpopular brands.

“The disappearance of cigarettes from the shelves didn’t start yesterday as we’ve noticed the shortage for the past five days. Many grocery stores are reluctant to sell popular cigarette brands, and they sell products only to regular customers. Even they aren’t getting more than one packet at a time,” Mohamed Lamin, a smoker, was quoted as saying by The Peninsula.

“What I’ve noticed is they’ve stocks but are waiting for the price hike after tobacco products tax comes into force on January 1 so that they can make more profits,” he added.

“I support this decision because it encourages us to stop smoking. I used to pay QR10 for a pack of Benson & Hedges. Soon, it’ll cost me double that amount. I don’t know if I’ll be able to pay so much every day. I’m thinking of stopping smoking altogether,” he said. 

Some shisha joints have already increased the price without notice.

“I used to smoke shisha, and the tobacco I use is now costlier by 30 to 40%. The shops did this in the pretext of the Ministry increasing prices, but we know the law isn’t yet in force,” a shisha smoker told The Peninsula.