State increases customs duty on fuel by 500%

1. :@):o)

2. nambala 2 :d

3. Elo lwanya!

4. I dont think that increament will make any difference. TAZAMA is finished. We all know that! Its not the private sector’s fault, that the goverment has lamentably failed to run it own company.

5. This is certainly out of order. 500%!!!

6. Imwe that’s not a solution.

7. Why not apply the same logic to imported fertilizer (save NCZ), imported second hand clothes (save Kafue Textiles), Fourth hand cars (save Livingstone Motor Assembly)

8. protectionism does not work. It just make the protected lazy, fat and bloated and they will never know what has hit them. And increase by 500 %? Zambia economics? Is this Zimbabwe style or what?. If it is cheaper to import finished products why keep Indeni. Sounds like another NCZ in the works. Cheaper fuel is good for the country and you guys are telling us thus INDENI needs to be protected to be profited and I think this is what is keeping the fuel price in Zambia high. Fuel prices should have fallen by a larger margin than what we see now. Looks like it would be cheaper to buy finished fule from SA.

   Ya I hear you communist shouting about protecting jobs. Cheap fuel can create more

9. Happy New Year to all Zambians kind and loving people.I wish Zambians
   can learn to work as a team and develop the rich country.There is just too much criticism against the president and amongst themselves.
   Even zambians who pay for congestion charge or packing charges in
   U K they would be first to criticize their system for any change be it
   good or bad.After elections one would wish you work together to develop your country and move forward.Very rich country but no unite
   to develop it at all.
   God bless Zambians to develop a blessed land Zambia

10. What does this translates to the pump price??? Thats the issue. Anything that will keep the pump price low/down is welcome. anything to the contrary is not democratically welcome as can reverse the gains of last year. So the same chap who announced should give us the implications. No more political rhetorics and gymnastics. Some things can easily spark a riot.

11. Remember when in the days of Kaunda suck protectionist measures only led to poor services from Indeni and Tazama.

    If we are to encourage healthy competition and ensure that Indeni and Tazama pull up their socks, we need to have some sort of free market play in the importation and exportation of finished petroleum products. Regulation can be done using quota’s rather than unrealistic Duties like 500%.

    Indeni and Tazama can still be supported. What the government should also be doing is encouraging the set up of another petroleum refinery, Relying on just one is ridiculous. If we look west we have our neighbour, Angola, an awakening giant in the oil production sector…….

12. …..and it makes more sense to have pipeline linked directly to the production facilities of Angola direct to say a refinery in the southern provice / western province. This is obviously for the long term. In the short term, if there is fuel shortages in Zambia but you can not be allowed to import, unless you pay 500% duty on fuel is ludicrous and amounts to Government profiteerinbg on a munomental scale!!!

13. #7 Thats correct. Same should apply to Zim prostitutes, assist your local team !

14. Ba Maureen hahahaH thats naughty!!

15. This cant be a solution. Let them try somethng else 😮

16. Watch #9.

    Did you know that we have the NHS system in Zambia yet your relatives are given a prescription to go and buy medicine from a pharmacy run by a pharmacist works at UTH?

    Paying for congestion does not bother me because we know the cahrge is meant for good reasons and yes the money is accounted for not kumwesu bayama.

17. #13,ba maureen,thats all you know,maybe we should appoint you as minister of prosititutes

18. ka maestro Hhehehhe tushako,we also want to win an award also boyi.

19. The reasoning sounds cool. But are we NOT going to be affected as ordinary Zambians?

20. #17 I would be happy to have you as my Deputy, that way you can eventually be my ‘chosen successor ‘ G.I.G.O if you know what that means

21. #14 We have so serve every aspect of human endeavour ! Happy 2 pin 9

22. “In view of this and the recent fuel price reduction, OMCs will now have to buy from TAZAMA as imported fuel will not compete with that produced from Indeni,” Mr Chibombamilimo said.

    People of Zambia to me this looks like

    1) OMCs have been making big profits by importing
    2) Buying from Indeni is less profitable to OMCs
    3) Govt should have pursued lower fuel prices further by making OMCs share that profit from imports, instead of forcing them to buy from Indeni. Govt is more interested in keeping indeni than in having lower fuel prices.
    4)Indeni is not good enough to Zambia. It’s fuel is too expensive.
    5) Govt need to explain why OMCs sell imports and ex-Indeni at same prices.

23. the problem is with both tazama and indeni. these firms have lamentably failed to operate efficiently. very soon either the pipeline or the refinery will malfunction and bp and other omcs ill be called upon to import fuel. government will then scrap duty and so on and so forth.

24. pinkly, mwaiseni mayo.

25. I have always said on this blog that the main cause of Zambian high fuel prices is Indeni.

    Indeni was designed for the 1970s fuel marker, when copper production was highest and demanded a lot of heavy fuel oils. But things have changed. Indeni needs to be reconfigured. To keep going, they mix crude oil with petrol, diesel etc. This makes what goes into Indeni very expensive. This is one reason Indeni output will always be expensive, and Zambians pay for it. Please allow market forces. Govt needs to invest massively in Indeni to either reconfigure it or add a hydrocarbon cracker that will break down the excess heavy fuel oils into more petrol and diesel.

26. We need a Govt that can solve problems. Tempering with duty is tempering with symptoms. The problems are well known – Indeni is a wrong tool at the moment. Tazama is rusty. Furthermore Govt has now shouldered Tazama with crude oil imports. I know this business. Very soon Tazama will be saddled with millions of Debt in US $. Political interference made Zimoil and Znoc limp. I bet Debt is reason why Indeni has not been used to import crude oil this time. I know current Tazama commercial manager is a competent ex-Znoc but you need Govt to stop meddling in this business. Zed politicians have always ruined this business. Political risk is too high at this end.

27. I have no quarrel with this on condition that TAZAMA and INDENI can cope. If not I walk the Adam way before he ate the fruit. Of course we know ati aya mawala fye this will just take us back to KKs days.

28. When KK was thinking of oil from grass you all castigated the old man and made jokes about it……see the effects now ?

29. Yaba

30. Iyo kwena

31. Happy new year 2u all,Pinkly hw was yo b/day? Matworld welcome back but wer did u go?

32. My poor Country is now finished. Always just talking about ‘potential.’ Is it all these politicians are paid for. No one eats ‘potential’. The fact is, the private sector started importing fuel because INDENI could not meet the demand. Has someone carried out the balance between the Country-wide demand for fuel and INDENI’s maximum production capacity?
    I think we now need CLIVE CHIRWA for president. Come on the man from Mufcan.

33. Vizenge

    happy new year to you too.ka name kampita.

    Zoe

    Happy new year my dear.

34. I wonder whether this makes business sense??? why should we protect an underperforming entity? Is it to keep the few jobs in the industry whilst creating job losses in many other industries.

    In the Kaunda era, there was something like this but failed. It would be good to let the free market forces play its role in the petroleum industry and this will encourage competition for Indeni and Tazama. Competition is healthy in any well regulated industry. We just pray that the pump prices will be reduced with this move!!!!!

    Fuel is the major component of production in many industries guys…..

35. If imported goods are cheaper, it means local goods are produced expensively and vice versa. Therefore it is necessary to reduce production costs in Zambia (reduce overheads, introduce new, efficient and environmental friendly technologies, search for new sources of crude oil, e.g Angola, etc). By the way what is the role of SADC?:-w
    Increasing customs duty is protectionism, which in the long run leads to technological and economical retardment.~X(
    It looks as if people in Zambia cannot think of anything new than that the KK introduced a quarter of a century ago!!! Remember, globalization was no there at that time. So suit to the new conditions!

36. Yaba

37. Clive Chirwa should start campaigning now or else he run away like the unheard of Shimaponda frm the states.

38. Disaster yet again!!!!!We are not an oil producing nation such taxes do not achieve the intended targets.
    Somewhere on this blog I requested ERB for a complete breakdown of the fuel cost price at the forcourt!
    Governments world over are reviewing excess taxation on fuel.
    Suddenly the pump price of fuel will go up and nobdy will be able to differentiate which fuel is which.In the end the poor consumer looses out.
    MADDNESS.

39. Vizenge

    Hey you! It went on as planned dear. Thanx! Vizenge naine ka name nakampita mweee….

40. The percentage on increase on first sight looks alarming. We just hope Tazama & Indeni will delivery in the past they failed. We shall wait and see.

41. ahhh get something else to work on and stop wasting our time.why now?pa zed awe mwe people maningi ukuperfoma….

42. #7 Let me tell you a story that you have mentioned the late Livingstone motor assembly.
    I was in the private motor industry sector back home during the UNIP era.
    UNIP made us a commitment to support vehicle assembly.So I linked up with UNZA to see what technocrates were at our disposal for building up of LOCAL components for such vehicles.
    As a start we only had two TYRES from dunlop, and BATTERIES from EXIDE.
    LMA were in a position to assembly us 44 vehicles a month besides what they were themselves producing.
    We got this going and in no time UNIP buttered copper for built up Toyota cars remember the cressidas, crowns, coronas etc. That killed our project as no forex was given us.

43. 500%, more like the inflation in Zim. Zed, about to follow Zim foot steps

44. ‘GOVERNMENT has increased customs duty on fuel from five to 25 per cent to discourage oil marketing companies (OMCs) from importing finished petroleum products.’

    Good move GRZ and keep it up to promote our local industry.

45. Ninshi ba Maureen?stop protecting ur cousins…let zim pro’s bring competition bcoz flavour ilapusana….

46. The Man namupwa for sure..u still think of Chirwa?
    ukaye kumushi then…i’ll ask the zambian embassy in moscow to prepare ur ticket…..

47. #7, how can you say fouth hand vehicles? am planning to land a Chariot from Japan and then you, you say fouth hand! your points are spot on though. :):)

48. AND THE BUS OPERATORS ARE SUPPOSED TO REDUCE BUS FARES?

49. The government should give some stakes of this indeni issue to LOCAL INVESTORS…before it gets too much for them to handle. this is wat we have wen there are Kaunda era recycled folks in GRZ.Anyway the comapany is in this state coz of some massive OFFLOADING into ma tumba ya bantu. Nway since indeni has increased capacity lets see what they do but if this should affect fuel prices negatively then noooo only citizens will pay the price.:((:((

50. maestro happy new year.Do u really think the govt is really interested in promoting local industry?I DONT THINK SO.
    Infact they are not interested in anyone.Come to think of it how far they g o to facilitate and even the field for say shoprite,game,kcm…by waving all the taxes and heaping them on a SME like most of us are.
    YOU DONT NEED TO BE A PROPHET BUT I THINK FUEL BALALUNDA AND HENCE I CANT WAIT TO FILL UP

51. IS this not just as bad cutting food supply at home because you think ba bululu bachilamo .Meanwhile walaba abana.This is a typical set up example.

52. The move by GRZ is good. There is no way you can let the private sector to dictate the oil industry they will hold us to ransom like Indeni which is not even wholly private does. We need to protect our own

53. I hope Tazama and Indeni will cope with the demand from OMCs.It is also my prayer that this will not encourage corruption.

54. 5=100%
    25=x%
    2500=5x
    2500/5=x
    therefore x=500%
    Since 500% represents the new percentage, subtracting the old 100% means the increase is 400%.
    Is that LT failing insamushi or the government. If it’s the grz, chineke ooh, then we are doomed.

55. 7. Ba Someofus,

    Why not apply the same logic to imported fertilizer (save NCZ), imported second hand clothes (save Kafue Textiles), Fourth hand cars (save Livingstone Motor Assembly)

    It will raise prices in the short run. But it will certainly keep some money inside the country.

    This of course goes directly against the spirit of ‘free markets’, but then, governments all over the world are letting go of that disastrous ideology.

    If anyone has the chance, please read “Bad Samaritans” by Cambridge economics professor Ha-Joon Chang, or any book by Ravi Batra.

56. If this is combined with a concerted revival of Zambia’s manufacturing ability, it could also reduced urban unemployment. The same attitude should be the basis for comprehensive agrarian reform.

    Let’s produce our own food instead of importing it, and give all the advantages to Zambian business and manufacturing, that the government has been bending over backwards to give to foreign corporations, in the forms of Development Agreements and Multi-Functional Economic Zones.

    You know, the way normal economies grow and develop. :-\”

57. Moscow rules=))

58. There is no increase. Customs rate on imported finished products has always been 25%. The government has just restated the rate to its original position. This rate has been there to avoid speculative tendencies in the fuel importation. ZRA has not been helping this particular matter with the speculative behavior of OMCs. All it need was for ZRA to apply the customs laws, where the OMC pay the respective duties on imported refined fuel up front at the boarder point of entry as is the case for all imports. Certainly the OMCs would not have managed to be paying the duties upfront at boarder or through bonded warehouse facilities

59. Unfortunately ZRA has been letting these OMC’s finished products imports come in the country without payment of respective duties at the boarder or come in through removals in bond (RIBS) as required by the Zambian tax laws for all imported products. The effect of this ZRA inefficiency is that massive cash flow advantage is given to OMC’s .This uneven level in the taxation playing field frustrates Tazama and Indeni operations.

60. #57 In the story it clearly says from 5 % to 25 %. and I confirmed this with ZNBC as well. So what are you talking about. Are you related to the manager of Indeni?

61. 500% increase! Well thats a joke of the year. The government should know that Zambian fuel is the most expensive in the region. Ba RB is poorly advised. I think Indeni should find Cheaper crude oil sources itself. Otherwise, it will be too costly for the country in the long run

62. Whatever happenned to the ‘free market’. This is another way of letting indeni enjoy the monopoly. Curbing other players is not the solution. It is a free market…open for competition, hence capitalism. Regulation should not only work to serve a particular company based on unjustified reasons that have not bearing on the economical situation of the country. Fair enough, why not extend such initiatives to the so called investors were are allowing in the country that are currently enjoying tax breaks on crazy investments they bring into the country? :-w

63. ..mean’t to say investors we are allowing into the country. Typing error # 62 :)>-

64. #54…25-5=20.

    20/5=4

    4X100=400%
    Youa are right yes.

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