Zimbabwe government urged to halt new 15% tax on rice imports
HARARE — Grain millers in Zimbabwe want the government to halt a plan to impose a 15% tax on rice imports, which vie with corn as the southern African nation’s staple food. Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa proposed bringing back value-added tax on the grain, which was removed in 2009, in his budget presentation last month. "A reintroduction of value-added tax will immediately trigger" a price increase of "at least 15%" and cut demand by about 40%, Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe Chairman Tafadzwa Musarara said in a letter to Chinamasa dated Dec. 30 that Bloomberg News received by e-mail. Rice has become a key staple in Zimbabwe, with imports helping alleviate food shortages as rural parts of the country have been hit by the worst drought in at least two decades. Rice consumption has climbed fourfold to 200,000 metric tons annually since 2009, with the grain beating corn and wheat as "the most cost-effective carbohydrate on the market," the association said. Current consumpti...
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