News / National
Biti instructs revenue collector Zimra not to bank with Zimbabwe Central Bank
31 Jul 2011 at 06:09hrs | Views
FINANCE Minister Tendai Biti is alleged to have directed the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) not to deposit its revenue the exchequer account that is domiciled at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
It is understood that when he took over as Minister of Finance at the formation of the inclusive Government, Minister Biti gave a directive to Zimra without approval from Cabinet that all revenue collected be deposited into several accounts strewn all over the banking sector, instead of the exchequer's account domiciled at the central bank as had been happening since 1980, reported Zimpapers.
Although Minister Biti could not be reached for a comment yesterday as his mobile phone was unreachable, Zimra's director of Legal and Corporate Services, Ms Florence Jambwa, confirmed that indeed the authority is depositing all its revenue in about 14 private banks.
Ms Jambwa said Zimra had gone into partnership with banks such as BancABC, CBZ, Standard Chartered, FBC, MBCA, Kingdom, Interfin, Metropolitan, ZB, NMB, Stanbic, Premier/Ecobank, Tetrad and Agribank for the collection of revenue.
Ms Jambwa said this was done in their quest to improve service delivery and ultimately bring real convenience to Zimra's valued clients, Zimra opened revenue accounts with various banks where clients can pay their taxes and duties. She added that she could not comment on the reasons why they were no longer depositing revenue into the exchequer account because "this is a policy issue which we are unable to comment on. You may wish to contact the Ministry of Finance for further details on Treasury policies."
When he presented his Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review Statement last Tuesday, Minister Biti said given the total anticipated revenues of US$2,746 billion, the implied monthly average collection becomes US$230 million. A top Treasury source who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation yesterday expressed concern saying at face value, it seemed harmless for Government to be depositing its fiscal funds in hostile international banks but "when one dissects the cycle of correspondent banking relationships between these so-called international banks and their parent institutions, it drives painful chills down the spine."
From 1980 when the country attained Independence up until the formation of the inclusive Government, all Government revenues collected in the economy encompassing PAYE, corporate income tax and excise duty among several other sources were deposited in the Government's exchequer account domiciled at the RBZ in line with the constitutional mandate that the central bank be the banker to Government.
It is understood that when he took over as Minister of Finance at the formation of the inclusive Government, Minister Biti gave a directive to Zimra without approval from Cabinet that all revenue collected be deposited into several accounts strewn all over the banking sector, instead of the exchequer's account domiciled at the central bank as had been happening since 1980, reported Zimpapers.
Although Minister Biti could not be reached for a comment yesterday as his mobile phone was unreachable, Zimra's director of Legal and Corporate Services, Ms Florence Jambwa, confirmed that indeed the authority is depositing all its revenue in about 14 private banks.
Ms Jambwa said this was done in their quest to improve service delivery and ultimately bring real convenience to Zimra's valued clients, Zimra opened revenue accounts with various banks where clients can pay their taxes and duties. She added that she could not comment on the reasons why they were no longer depositing revenue into the exchequer account because "this is a policy issue which we are unable to comment on. You may wish to contact the Ministry of Finance for further details on Treasury policies."
When he presented his Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review Statement last Tuesday, Minister Biti said given the total anticipated revenues of US$2,746 billion, the implied monthly average collection becomes US$230 million. A top Treasury source who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation yesterday expressed concern saying at face value, it seemed harmless for Government to be depositing its fiscal funds in hostile international banks but "when one dissects the cycle of correspondent banking relationships between these so-called international banks and their parent institutions, it drives painful chills down the spine."
From 1980 when the country attained Independence up until the formation of the inclusive Government, all Government revenues collected in the economy encompassing PAYE, corporate income tax and excise duty among several other sources were deposited in the Government's exchequer account domiciled at the RBZ in line with the constitutional mandate that the central bank be the banker to Government.
Source - Byo24News
