Sergei Shatalov said tobacco excise duties will rise 20% annually in the next three years.
Presenting a draft law on excise duties to the government, he said the added-value component of the duty, which depends on the cost of the goods, will rise 0.5%. That will increase the price of cigarettes by about a ruble a year.
"We expect nothing extraordinary," the official said.
Shatalov said an excise duty hike for most of excisable goods will be 7% in 2008, 6.5% in 2009 and 6% in 2010.
A single excise duty will be fixed for alcohol, but Shatalov did not specify the rate.
The deputy minister said the blueprint initially envisioned a 6.5% and 6% hikes for oil product excises in 2009 and 2010, respectively, but the Finance Ministry then abandoned plans to index these products for the entire three years.
Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov said at the Cabinet session that technical regulations defining the quality of gasoline will be adopted this spring.
He said the government is planning to diversify excise duties on gasoline in 2009-2010 in accordance with its quality.
