Zambian Breweries has reportedly abandoned its two major expansion projects worth over 130 million US dollars following government’s decision to introduce 60 percent excise duty on clear beer.
In the 2014 national budget, Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda announced that he was revoking the statutory instrument that suspended excise duty on clear beer so that the substantive duty rate of 60 percent is once again effective.
Mr. Chikwanda was hoping to raise K514.8 million through the tax measure.
But the proposed tax reforms have backfired with Zambian Breweries deciding to abandon its 90 million US dollar Ndola expansion project and its proposed 32 million US dollar investment in the Lusaka East Multi Facility Economic Zone.
Zambia Association of Manufactures Chief Executive Officer Maybin Nsupila revealed that Zambian Breweries has since informed government that the two ventures are no longer viable due to the 60 percent excise duty slapped on clear beer.
“This was we have been discussing with the government that it won’t help anyone if we have a short tern view on taxation. We should have a long term view when it comes to raising taxes,” Mr Nsupila said.
ZB just pass that cost to the consumers. Limbi Zambia will move from a nation of drunkards to a nation of non-drunkards. But knowing Zambians, even if the price of alcohol goes up by 100%, they will still remain drunkards.
Real men dont drink or smoke, or even take any drugs
free lessons there. You do any of these, you are corrupting your body and are ignorant to the core.
Thanks
Mushota, i only take tunda-mbuzi, its all natural.
You stole my blog name. You have no shame!!
@Mopao Mokonzi Wa zabanga: you stole my blog name and I am still not happy with you however reasonable your comments may be. Zambians steal anythingm including Blog names….they are not so creative!!!! You dont even have any idea how and why I came up with that name……if you did you would drop it!!!
Good!! As it is we Zambians drink a lot of beer. Personally I prefer the opaque stuff
u are just poor. utubepe
Back to bulk beer……Brown here we come
Another attempt by some conglomerate to blackmail the government!
Spot on. .. They would be happy for us to remain drunk zombies we are so they can continue to reap the profits.
About time you slapped tax on beer…go to Norway or Denmark or the UK and find how much tax they pay on their alcohol….Please use the funds wisely.
That is fine. Zambia has enough alcoholics.
GRZ dont listen to them……
Peace and Prosperity to Mother Zambia.
just trying to blackmail Government, they can easily pass that cost to the consumers. I used to buy a beer at K6 in Zambia only to find the same stuff at 5 euro (K38) in Ireland.
Amen! God has answered my prayers :). Now Zambians can concentrate on development, Jesus and their families.
Jesus? You mean wasting time reading the white’s book.
Amen!
60% is a too much!
It is also high time ZB got some competition. Their long-standing monopoly status only means good to them but not to the country’s already poor economic situation. Heavy taxation is the only way to stop them from manipulating commercial rentability and dictating prices on the market.
I’ve got too much money to worry about ka 60%.
60% increase and you still expect the private sector to create employment? It’s not about stopping people from drinking, its about establishing a manufacturing sector that has the capabilities to supply a wider market like the entire southern Africa. The breweries in this case will just move to a low cost region and the money the politicians are looking forward to raise will be elusive. Where are the real economists in this starved continents of Africa? I guess they all work for the govt…
60 percent is alright. thosr who need chimena will cough up
The number of kids knocking back drinks came as a huge shock to me. It was very high up on the commonly discussed problems people showed real concern about. Some hoods have more bars than food stores. Hope some of that 60% goes to tackle the real life problems communities are facing particularly with kids drinking and I don’t mean teens. Kids. Our population is mostly youth. Pump money in to their education and alternate activities for it is not looking too good on the ground for them.
I think its fine. Beer should not be easily accessed. Go to Sweden and see if you can buy beer at less than a dollar. the only beer you can afford is the 2% alcohol content meant for after meals. Its only in Zambia where even jobless people can afford to drink alcohol. Being a Christian nation, I think ZB can completely pack and go. As a national we should do more to ban even beer adverts. I may sound weired. but people have suffered and died becoz of that brown bottle. if we did an opportunity cost analysis. we shall find that we can do away with ZB.
They are good at increasing taxes in companies where they have no interest or ” shares” otherwise they will start talking about Oversight or develop oversight conditions whenever quizzed by powers above. They are corrupt individuals.