Zimbabwe laws stifle informal sector, says Zimra

via Zim laws stifle informal sector, says Zimra – DailyNews Live by Ndakaziva Majaka  15 APRIL 2014

Zimbabwean laws are stifling the informal sector, Zimbabwe Revenue Authority boss Gershem Pasi said yesterday.

Speaking at the National Business Council of Zimbabwe (NBCZ) symposium in the capital, Pasi said Zimbabwe’s laws were single-handedly destroying a “promising informal sector”

“We may be preaching empowerment, yet the regulatory framework is killing the informal sector,” he said.

“Tell me why a vendor should pay for a licence from the Local Government before they have started trading?”

Despite Patrick Chinamasa, the Finance minister, admitting that the informal sector was now the dominant force in the national economy, trading laws remained hostile.

Pasi said the national tax collector was in the process of making the trading environment conducive for informal traders, so that they may contribute more to the country’s GDP (gross domestic product).

“We have got a committee working with the Local Government (ministry) and they are looking at areas with decent potential for informal traders,” he said.

“We don’t just want to harvest what the informal traders are making, however we want to be there from the beginning.”

He said the current situation does not make it attractive for informal traders to conduct business as municipal police were always disturbing the informal sector’s various areas of trade.

“Government should protect the informal sector through decent areas of trade and operating systems,” Pasi said.

“As Zimra, we will provide these things for the informal sector because we believe they hold the keys to the country’s future.”