Zimbawe: Trade implications of the 2009 Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review
Description
On 16 July 2009, Zimbabwe Finance Minister Tendai Biti gave his Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review. In the review, he proposed the amendments with trade implications outlined below:
- Scrappage of a 40 percent import duty on foreign newspapers.
- Lowering of tariffs on line telephone sets and handheld telephone sets from 25 percent to 5 resp. 0 percent.
- Lowering of import duty on printers from 5 to 0 percent.
- Reduction of duties on powdered milk and butter oil from 40 to 0 percent.
- Reduction of duties on leather in slabs, waste leather, palm stearine, wadding textile fibres, binding and baler twine of sisal, twine of synthetic fibres from 40 to 10 percent.
- Reduction of import duty on public transport type passenger motor vehicles from 25 to 15 percent.
- Reduction of import duty on single cab trucks in the transport of goods frm 25 to 20 percent.
Any Evidence-Based Deliberation:
| Question | Result |
|---|---|
| Is there anything in the public record to suggest that evidence of the effectiveness of the proposed measure was considered during official deliberations? | |
| Is there any evidence that alternatives to the proposed measure were considered? | |
| Is there anything in the public record that suggests that empirical evidence informed the comparison across the alternatives available to government? | |
| Was such evidence identified? | |
| Is such evidence publicly available? | |
| Did the official decision-maker in question provide an explanation as to why a chosen measure was favoured over alternatives? | |
| Is there any evidence to suggest that potentially affected trading partners were consulted before the measures were taken? | |
| Is there any evidence that safeguards have been put in place to ensure that implementation of the initiative is transparent and non-discriminatory? | |
| Did the government state its intention to review the measure within one year of implementation? |
Date Discovered:
Implemented: Yes
Date of inception: 1 Aug 2009
GTA Evaluation: Amber
Source:
Ministry of Finance Zimbawe. (16 July 2009). Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review. Available at http://www.zimtreasury.org/downloads/293.pdf
Government Response:
- 513 reads
