Zimbabwe to sign a Double Taxation Agreement with Ethiopia

Senior Business Writer

Zimbabwe is poised to sign a Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) with Ethiopia, a move that will boost trade and investment between the two nations.

On the sidelines of the ongoing 57th Session of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Finance, Economic Development, and Investment Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube held discussions with his Ethiopian counterpart, Honourable Ahmed Shide.

Zimbabwe is the outgoing chair and hosted last year’s Indaba in Victoria Falls.

According to an update from the Treasury, it reported that discussions covered various cooperation areas, with Zimbabwe seeking insights into Ethiopia’s private sector-led Urban Renewal Programme, taxation system, value chain support—especially for leather, the Sovereign Wealth Fund, and its Health Insurance Scheme.

“Zimbabwe is set to sign a Double Taxation Agreement with Ethiopia which will promote trade and investment for both countries. They discussed several areas of co-operation, with Zimbabwe expressing interest in learning more about the ongoing private sector led Urban Renewal Programme, the Ethiopian taxation regime, supporting value chains, particularly the leather value chain, the Sovereign Wealth Fund as well as its vibrant Health Insurance Scheme.”

Double taxation occurs when two or more tax jurisdictions overlap, resulting in the same income or profit being taxed multiple times.

To address this, Double Taxation Agreements (DTAs) were introduced as an international tax mechanism to prevent the same income or capital from being taxed in both jurisdictions during the same period. These agreements also foster international tax compliance and the sharing of tax-related information.