South Africa has asked Zimbabwe to lower import duty and surtax levied on over 100 products imported from that country, an official has said.
South Africa is Zimbabwe’s largest trade partner, accounting for about 70 percent of imported goods in the southern African country and over 60 percent of its total trade, official figures show.
The request comes after Harare imposed a ban on several imports including cereals, dairy products and cosmetics in June. The ban has been widely criticized, and sparked demonstrations and the burning down of a government warehouse in Beitbridge, a border town leading into South Africa.
Zimbabwe has resorted to levy imports as it battles to stem the country’s $3.3 billion annual trade deficit.
Industry and trade minister Mike Bimha said today that South Africa had made the request in a recent meeting to discuss trade relations between the two countries but would not be drawn to mention the particular products.
“There are number of products on which we have applied duty and surtax so in our recent meeting they (South Africa) submitted a list of 112 products that they say they would want us to consider in terms of duty and surtax and we told them that we should be able to make a response in 2 weeks’ time,” he said.
Bimha said government’s decision to control imports through Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016 would allow to resuscitate the country’s ailing manufacturing sector.
“We need to give breathing space to our manufacturing sector to give them time to retool, reequip hence the measures that were taken. Where we see gaps in demand and supply, we are allowing our business people to import and we also allow individuals to import items for personal consumption.”- The Source
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