Cross-border Traders Commend Govt For Scrapping Duty On Groceries

Zimbabwe Cross-Border Traders’ Association (ZCBTA) president Killer Zivhu has commended the Government for removing duty on selected grocery items.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Zivhu said the removal of duty on the products will benefit the public as increased product availability will result in reduced prices. Said Zivhu:

This is economic independence that the Government has delivered to the people in the informal sector, particularly the cross-border traders, by scrapping duty on the basic commodities.

The general public as from the last three weeks have been faced with a lot of challenges, especially on skyrocketing of prices which has been happening in shops, but we want to thank the President and Government for addressing this issue.

We also want to thank the Minister of Finance and Economic Development Mthuli Ncube and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr Mangudya for coming up with such an incentive that will cushion consumers against unfair price hikes.

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He said his organisation was negotiating with different financial institutions for short-term loans for members to enable them to take advantage of the new policy. Zivhu said:

We are also negotiating with different financial institutions so that we can get money. We need about US$100 million for this project.

We want our cross-border traders to resuscitate their business because we want to reach every corner of the country with cheaper products.

We do not want a situation whereby only those who are liquid, the big players who are already selling at higher prices, continue with this speculative behaviour.

These will take advantage of the Government policy and import commodities duty-free but still sell the products at high prices.

We also urge banks, transporters and all the people who are in transport logistics to come forward so that we can have transport for the cross-border traders to bring in their goods.

This problem is not an individual problem, this problem affects us as a country.

Last week the Government removed duty on 11 selected imported basic grocery items and allowed shops and other Zimbabwean businesses to keep 100 percent of the foreign currency they get from sales.

The products that will be imported duty-free include maize meal, rice, milk, flour, sugar, salt, cooking oil, petroleum jelly, toothpaste, bath soap and washing powder.

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