Cigarette vending machines in various bars and other establishments have run out and are not being replenished as usually happens when Budget Day nears.

The Budget for 2015 is expected to be presented to Parliament on November 17.

As raising excise duty on tobacco products is a popular measure among finance ministers, fresh supplies of cigarettes slow down if not stop altogether.

Some Valletta bar owners complained yesterday they were disappointing many customers because distributors and wholesalers were not furnishing them with the amount of cigarettes they usually ordered.

“We have already been a week without the usual supply of cigarettes,” a snack bar owner in Merchants Street said.

It’s like living in a third world country. When the Budget arrives, cigarettes in this country disappear

“We were already told by our supplier that we will probably not be able to sell cigarettes until the Budget,” she said.

“It’s like living in a third world country. When the Budget arrives, cigarettes in this country disappear,” a stationery owner said.

It is not only retailers who complain about the lack of supply because distributors and wholesalers report that they themselves are not being given tobacco products by importers. Importers point their fingers at the Customs Department, claiming quotas are being limited to avoid hoarding.

“Usually, limiting the sales and distribution of cigarettes used to happen one or two days before Budget Day. Recently, this quota limit started to happen almost three weeks before the Budget is presented,” an importer said.

Efforts to contact the Customs Department proved futile. Excise duties on tobacco products were raised in almost every Budget over the past six years with the retail price of a packet of cigarettes going up by almost 40 per cent. Last year, the price increased by 30c per packet.

Although the details of the Budget measures are announced by the Finance Minister in Parliament, a draft Budget document sent to Brussels has already indicated the government will be raising more taxes from excise duties.

Apart from cigarettes, excise duty increases favoured by governments include those on alcohol.