The Economic Association of Zambia (EAZ) says the reduction in Value Added Tax will not be of great benefit to the people of Zambia.
Speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Lusaka yesterday, Mwilola Imakando said the reduction in VAT will be swallowed by a general rise in food prices adding that food prices will not benefit the people.
Mr.Imakando said the reduction of VAT from 17.5% to 16% will not affect food prices to be reduced because food is sold without any tax adding that this will instead lead to an increase of prices in food stuffs.
He stated that other items such as television sets, decorders and other home theaters have been reduced to much lower prices.
He said most of the shops have already reduced the prices of goods while a few others are still using the old prices.
And Mr. Imakando said he spoke to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) chairman, Costain Chilala over the exportation of maize to other countries.
Mr. Imakando disclosed that FRA has enough maize for consumption for the local people up to next year adding that no more exports will be done to store enough food for the local people only.
He said exporting maize has been stopped due to the poor harvests expected this year because of floods that have destroyed crops in most parts of the country.
Mr. Imakando has since called on citizens not to worry of hunger as government has put the matter into consideration by reserving all the maize for the local people.
chilala for president….2011?
this is one things i always say in this blog to ba so called GRZ is simple economic indicators of a countries success difficult? the fact that we have more food in the country does not mean that we should export though i know that we need forex, anyway weve copper to offset it, we can just supply more to bring maize prices much much lower for a common zambian to afford a meal pliz by EAZ. ands the fact that GRZ know sthat poverty is the main issue in our beloved country it should have scrapped tax on all food products meant for consumption locally and thats how the country grows as to the fact of us citizens enjoying the tax were paying to the govt not them having big belly’s….
How on earth can a tonga rule us.You want to bring cattle in cairo road,ba mwalibiyabuti,tongito
#1 don’t be touched easily by such reports.They potray a picture like they care so much for the Zambian people.No,they don’t and so does Chilala. All animals are equal,but some are more equal than others
ZRA is a monster whose aim is to keep on bilking citizens out of their much earned money, and is also a huge cesspool of corruption. One has to examine what goes on in towns like Livingstone. Nearly all the loafers at the Pontoon are in the paypockets of ZRA officials. These fellows canvas all types of things to make sure that inflated payments are made to ZRA. This entry point is one where it is clear that corruption in Zambia is with MMD’s blessings. Finally, the ZRA charges for anything are inflationary and have no relation to the true value of the item being charged for.