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Oliver Kazunga Senior Business Reporter
THE Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) is carrying out a survey to assess the impact of a new tariff regime on imported products the government has introduced to protect local industries.
In a statement, ZNCC said the revival of the manufacturing sector continues to be a topical issue in the country as companies are still struggling to increase productivity to competitive levels.
According to the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), capacity utilisation in the manufacturing sector last year declined to an average of 36.3 percent from 39.6 percent in 2013 owing to a number of factors such as tight liquidity, competition from imported products and intermittent power supplies.
“The current policy thrust as outlined in the 2014 national budget, has moved away from being centred only on funding, but has expanded to the use of import duty as a way of both discouraging imports and protecting local industry.
“Several products, including those whose duty was zero rated, saw tariffs being introduced. The imposition of the tariffs is intended to support the productive sectors as well as to provide modest protection for local industry,” said ZNCC.
“This survey therefore intends to assess the expected impact of this new trade regime as set out in the 2014 national budget statement, paying particular attention to whether this would enhance industry competitiveness, enhance consumer welfare and whether the measures are in line with Zimbabwe’s bilateral, regional and international commitments.”
In carrying out the survey, ZNCC was sending out questionnaires to firms that produce or use at least one of the products that were listed in the 2014 National Budget as undergoing tariff reviews.
“As you may be aware, in March 2014, the Zimbabwe Economic Policy Analysis and Research Unit produced a research paper for ZNCC on the import duty structure. In addition, information on how the new tariff regime has specifically affected your firm would go a long way in helping to identify the adequacy of the policy measure, and thus enable and enrich future policy responses,” it said.
Last year, the government imposed surtax on a wide range of products imported into Zimbabwe from South Africa in order to protect local industry.
Surtax can be defined as duty payable on importation of selected goods.
The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) listed a wide range of products attracting surtax among them cooking oil, margarine, soap, chicken, eggs, potatoes, stoves fridges and freezers.
Following the introduction of surtax, South Africa’s exporters such as the washing powder manufacturer, Bliss Brands, decided to stop exports to Zimbabwe in light of the huge surtax charges.
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