Most imbibers of alcoholic beverages use a "kick per buck" measure to ascertain value for money of the booze they drink, the Ceylon Brewery PLC (CBL) has said in its annual report.

By this measure, hard liquor holds a 68% advantage over standard legal beer, dubbed a ``soft alcohol’’ by its makers.

"This is driven purely by taxation since Sri Lanka taxes soft alcohols at a rate much higher than it does hard alcohols," CBL said in its annual report.

"Indeed Sri Lanka is probably the only country in the world to do so and (this) policy supports the consumption of hard alcohol contrary to best practice examples widely available worldwide."

While CBL admitted "encouraging signs" of a gradual correction in taxation between soft and hard alcohol, it said that hard alcohol still had a significant advantage over soft alcohol.

The company made the further point that it was difficult to understand the indirect assistance provided to illicit alcohol by the government’s taxation policy on the alcohol industry.

"Thanks to the very high levels of taxation on all types of legal alcohol and the distribution restrictions in place, illicit alcohol consumption has reached alarming proportions," the report said.

It noted that a 2004 study by WHO had estimated that 92% of all alcohol consumed in the country is illicit and police records indicate that over 200,000 raids are carried out on illicit liquor outlets each year.

"In comparison, legal liquor is sold through a mere 2,500 outlets," CBL said.