adminSenior Business Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Cross Border Traders’ Association (ZCBTA) says the reduction of travellers’ rebate among a raft of fiscal measures undertaken by the government are necessary interventions to maximise domestic revenue generation for economic growth.
Under the new regulations, the government has reduced travellers’ rebate from $300 to $200 as a measure to curb the continued abuse of the rebate by local businesses.
A travellers’ rebate is granted once in a calendar month to a person entering Zimbabwe excluding crew members.
It is meant to assist travellers to import goods for their personal use and products for resale are not covered by the rebate.
The new provisions have also reduced daily import duty remission to $30 from $50 per individual traveller per day.
In addition, travellers using small cross border transport (mostly open trucks) or buses with huge trailers and carrying goods of a commercial nature no longer qualify for the rebate.
The goods are now treated as commercial.
Businessman and ZCBTA president, Killer Zivhu, yesterday said the new measures would assist in financing government operations on the back of limited fiscal space due to economic challenges.
“We’re a country under economic sanctions. Resultantly, Zimbabwe has to work hard to protect what’s ours.
“The reduction of travellers’ rebate is one of the measures meant to widen government’s revenue base,” he said.
“As cross border traders’ association, we appreciate government position given that the country is under sanctions and we’re convinced that these difficulties wil pass at some stage.”
Economic analyst Bongani Ngwenya said the new regulations will impact negatively on travellers but serve a better national purpose.
“It might not be fair to reduce travellers’ rebate but there’s a need for government to improve revenue collection,” said Ngwenya.
He said the delays in paying civil servants’ December salaries was a confirmation of a limited fiscal space.
According to Statutory Instrument (SI) number 148 of 2015 (Customs and Excise (General) (Amendment) Regulations, 2015 (No 80) issued recently by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, travellers’ rebate will only be granted to pedestrians and travellers using private vehicles.
Before the latest development, individual travellers would enjoy the rebate whether they used commercial transport, buses or small cross border transport operators.
In June last year, Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa hinted the government planned to scrap travellers’ rebates on basic commodities to boost local industry.
It is hoped that reducing travellers’ rebate would curb the influx of cheap imports and assist growth of local firms.
The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) has complained about imports that are flooding the market thereby reducing demand for locally produced products.
Online Reporter