Red alert: Why the cost of food will go up in july

Students at a local supermarket. Milk, sugar, maize flour and wheat flour have been slapped with 16 per cent value added tax. [File, Standard]

Milk and bread are among the basic items whose prices will rise sharply in July after enactment of planned broad changes on taxation laws that also touch companies.

Applying a uniform rate of 16 per cent on all items would see the prices rise by a similar margin.