Japanese vehicle imports fall

Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
BEITBRIDGE Border Post handled fewer Japanese second-hand vehicles this month as new custom regulations announced by Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa take effect.

In his Mid Term Fiscal Review policy, Minister Chinamasa revised the rates of Customs Duty on the importation of certain motor vehicles with effect from September 1.

Surtax on second-hand light passenger vehicles aged more than five years from date of manufacture was reviewed from 25 to 35 percent.

This means import duty for most vehicles rose from 86 to 95 percent.

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority director of Legal and Corporate Affairs, Ms Florence Jambwa confirmed the development on Monday.

“Vehicle imports have generally decreased in September as compared to August. You will note that between 1 and 14 September, vehicles imported and processed were 610, a decrease when compared to the same period last month (August 1-14) where a total of 864 vehicles were cleared,” she said.

“At the moment we are processing between 31 and 65 vehicles per day as compared to 32 — 133 vehicles per day in August this year. Please note that importations in the month of August 2015 may have been higher as clients tried to clear vehicles before the increase in Surtax and could be lower in September due to the higher clearances done in August”.

Ms Jambwa said the Mid-Term Fiscal Review also saw certain goods being excluded from the $300 traveller’s monthly rebate.

These include cooking oil, beds, mattresses, flour, maize meal, sugar, meat, fish, powdered milk, yoghurt, cheese, eggs, corn puffs, jam and honey.

Ms Jambwa said they noted an increase in the importation of beds and mattresses in August as people battled to beat the September 1, 2015 deadline for the exclusion of such imports from traveller’s rebate.

She said other items now falling outside the traveller’s rebate included flour, maize meal, sugar, meat, fish, powdered milk, yoghurt, cheese, eggs, corn puffs, jam and honey and margarine.

“These grocery items are not ordinarily imported in large quantities and therefore no significant changes have been observed.

“There were very limited importations during both the months of August and September.

“Furthermore no substantial changes in quantities of furniture made of metal, wood, bamboo, plastics or rattan and other material and parts or ornaments of furniture have been noticed so far,” said Ms Jambwa.