Fuel smuggling in Zimbabwe spirals out of control

Fuel comes into Zimbabwe mainly through two streams, the Beira pipeline from Mozambique and via rail and road.

Both diesel and petrol are charged taxies and levies amounting to 0.50 cents and 0.63 cents respectively.

These include duty, ZINARA road levy, carbon tax, debt redemption and strategic reserve levy.

Speaking on SpotFM’s Morning Grill this week, Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) chief executive Gloria Magombo said some of the fuel exempted from paying duty was finding its way to the market, prejudicing government of revenue and creating unfair competition.

Jet A1 and fuel imported for projects which would have been granted national status are exempted from duty.

Magombo said the fuel marking programme, which was expected start in January this year, had been delayed pending approval of the required statutory instrument but now had gone to tender.

Paraffin was also non-dutiable until recently when authorities introduced duty of 0.40 cents per litre following an increase in fuel adulteration where traders blend paraffin with fuel.   

“Paraffin is being used by unscrupulous traders for blending with diesel, in order to achieve higher profit margins, thereby prejudicing revenue to the fiscus and causing mechanical damage to motor vehicle engines,” Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, said in 2017 national budget.

Magombo said the programme would increase accountability in the fuel delivery chain and maintain quality from source.

“We did request for proposals for the fuel marking company because most of the work has been done…We have finished development of the relevant regulations and terms of reference for us to go to tender for procurement,” she said.

“We are using the last five months of the year are to finalize procurement and mobilization for the program to start effectively at the beginning of next year”. 

Ghana introduced fuel marking programme in 2014 which saw fuel adulteration go down by 78 percent in the following year.-The Source

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