Govt moot to make imports more expensive compared to local goods

Zimbabwean government is mooting ways to charge more duty on imported products by local shops in order to curb the externalization of money.

This was said by Finance and economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa in parliament after Tafara MDC-T MP James Maridadi asked as to what the government was doing regarding foreign supermarkets such as those from Botswana and South Africa.

"We observe that Zimbabwe is hemorrhaging from externalisation of funds.   What is Government doing regarding foreign supermarkets such as those from Botswana and South Africa?" Maridadi asked. " We look at supermarkets such as Choppies and Pick n Pay, what is Government doing to avoid financial hemorrhaging?  As stated by Hon. Chinamasa that if we are at a rally we would be saying down with Choppies supermarket."

Chinamasa said it is a policy that those who are ignorant of the law should be educated.

"If you had listened to the Monetary Statement by the Central Bank Governor, you would have picked up measures which are addressing reducing
the import bill. The issues you are raising are to do with importation and the measures which we announced are to reduce importation of goods which are locally produced," Chinamasa said.  "We are addressing that issue through a number of measures.  Firstly, we look at the tariff so that we
make it high enough to discourage any would-be importers so that when the goods land in Zimbabwe, they are more expensive than locally produced
goods."

He said another measure that was also announced was that from now on, the foreign currency is going to be dedicated to procuring a priority list of
products and this is through moral suasion, the discussions have been undertaken between the Central Bank and the commercial banks.  

"They will have a priority list of goods which can be imported into the country and only those which are not important will clearly be at the very
bottom of that list. So, through a combination of those measures, we believe that the Import Bill should go down, that both supermarkets and
Zimbabweans also are encouraged to use locally produced goods which by the way, are of very high quality," he said. " There could have been
temporarily a problem about the cost of production leading to high prices, but the products now produced are of very high quality and compete
globally."

"So the short answer to your question is, the issue of importation of goods which can be locally produced is being addressed through a number of
measures," he added.