For the past decade the country’s political and economic problems have led to the destruction of local industry and food production, seriously reducing the amount of goods produced locally. This has forced people to rely heavily on imported goods from neighbouring countries, such as Botswana and South Africa.
But in his mid-term budget statement in July, Biti said the government would restore import duty to protect industry from cheap imports. The state-owned media also reported that the import duties have been re-introduced because of an ‘improved supply of basic goods.’ But a number of observers have questioned if this is the case.
After Biti’s announcement last month analysts warned that shops would be forced to push up the price of basic products. Already people are starting to complain as prices of cooking oil and mealie-meal are shooting up.
Muchemwa explained that the import duty increase was to blame for the rise in the cost of living. “Because of the increase in food and non-food items quite a number of other things have also gone up, including rentals (from about $40 per room to $60). According to the Finance Minister, this is a worrisome development and as a government they are willing to address this issue because overall it actually reverses the economic stability.”
“Biti indicated that the government will continue to closely monitor the overall price developments and also the impact of the duty reinstatement; which means they might remove the duty imposed on some of these products or lower the tariffs,” Muchemwa said.
Post published in: News