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THE Competition and Tariff Commission (CTC) has begun the process of formulating a national trade tariff policy meant to guide the country’s commitments under various bilateral, regional and international trade agreements.
The policy is expected to buttress the country’s trade, export and industrial development policy objectives whose goals are to transform the productive sectors of the economy.
The policy framework is envisaged to further provide a long term planning horizon for the private sector to operate in as it introduces policy certainty, said CTC in a notice.
“The commission would like to come up with National Trade Tariff Policy (NTTP) in line with the Industrial Development Policy. The overall objective of the NTTP will be to rationalise trade to eliminate distortions so as to promote industrialisation,” said the tariffs watchdog.
It said the specific objectives of the policy will be to rationalise tariffs in light of changes in industry structure, assist on preferential trade policy formulation and negotiations, implementation of tariff reviews and liaise with Government and its departments and private sector on tariff policy issues.
The CTC has said it was seeking to engage a consultant to craft the NTTP that will take into account the economic aspirations of the country thereby promoting economic growth and development. Among other tasks, the consultant will analyse the current product categorisation and related tariff regime and have a tariff policy, which takes these into account. The tasks also cover review and synchronisation of the NTTP with existing relevant policies as well as consulting relevant stakeholders in coming up with the policy.
These processes will assist in aligning Zimbabwe’s commitments under various trade agreements, promote value addition, protection and development of local industry, treatment of infant industries, treatment of raw materials and intermediate products versus finished products.
Online Reporter