Zim industry pushes total import ban

Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa made the most determined assault on imports when he unveiled a raft of tax measures to control the rising tide when he announced the MID term Fiscal Policy review on September 11.

An increasingly desperate industry, which continues to be smothered by an influx of imported goods, is ratcheting up pressure on Treasury to totally ban the import of commodities that are and can ideally be manufactured by local companies when the 2015 National Budget is announced on Thursday.

Excise duty on diesel and petrol has since been increased to 30 cents and 35 cents from 25 cents and 30 cents respectively, while mobile handset imports now attract a customs duty of 25 percent.

Last week, ZNCC vice-president Davison Norupiri said the threat posed by imports still exists and Government needed to ban products that can be locally made in order to induce economic growth.  

He noted that the local economy was prejudiced of more than US$100 million last year through the import of corn snacks (jiggies).