President Ranil Wickremesinghe has instructed the authorities to remove taxes on sanitary napkins, considering impac of high prices of products on women.

According to the President's Media Division, taxes on all imported sanitaty products will be removed and the finished products will be VAT zero.

As a result, prices of imported sanitary napkins will be reduced by 18 - 20% while the prices of local sanitary napkins will be reduced by Rs. 50 - 60.

Concerns were raised about increasing prices of sanitary napkins and impact of it on women, specially school students.

Teachers' unions complained that many female students skip schools during their periods as they cannot afafford sanitary napkins. 

Total tax rate on sanitary napkins was 42.8% earlier.