Zimbabwe must stop being a crybaby and instead remove cumbersome taxes and strengthen existing export relations, an envoy has said.
Source: Stop being crybaby, envoy tells Zim – NewsDay Zimbabwe February 24, 2017
BY TATIRA ZWINOIRA
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) ambassador to Zimbabwe Mawampanga Mwana Nanga told guests at the release of the ZimTrade DRC market survey yesterday in Harare that Zimbabwe needed to maximise on its potential export sources, instead of crying about the decline in exports.
The survey showed that there was an easy access of the United States dollar in the central African nation despite it having a high import bill.
“If you want me to blunt, it is time for Zimbabwe to get up and get in, to stop crying. In the DRC, money can be changed anywhere, on the street and in the bank anywhere. We have the DRC franc, but the dollars are also everywhere. You can sell in this (United States dollar) or pay in dollars. At a street corner, someone is sitting there where you can exchange for dollars and the rate is known by everyone so there is no such thing as a black market,” Nanga said.
“We have to work outside the box because let me tell you the customs, immigration, all those regulations they are okay but they were designed by colonial powers. But now that we are independent, do we still have to follow up on these regulations?
“ I do not think so because at the end of the day the Zimra’s of this world have to be more creative in the value added tax.”
He said Zimbabwean traders — big or small — should form partnerships in the DRC in areas where the country was lacking, by supplying in terms of expertise in exchange for access to the DRC and its markets.
The ZimTrade DRC Market Survey found opportunities for small scale and corporate traders in engineering, electrical, iron and steel, pharmaceutical products, textiles including corporate and protective clothing, agricultural products.
DRC’s import bill was $5,7 billion in 2015, while its exports was $3,68 billion showing the country heavily relied on imports.
ZimTrade CEO, Sithembile Pilime said the DRC had been on a growth mode thereby offering scope for growing trade volumes in the two countries, commonly referred to as B2B (business to business) transactions.
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