The Sunday News
Roberta Katunga Senior Business Reporter
BUY Zimbabwe, a local lobby group, has taken upon itself to intercede on the 15 percent tax on raw platinum exports impasse between Government and miners by creating a platform for dialogue in an attempt to bring the two parties to a common position.
The Government last week introduced the levy in a bid to push platinum miners to process platinum locally despite the companies claiming that Zimbabwe’s infrastructure and energy supplies were not adequate to run a big refinery.
Buy Zimbabwe economist Mr Kipson Gundani said the group has already set plans to convene a meeting with both parties so as to come up with an amiable solution for the good of the country.
“Our worry is the issue of policy inconsistency in the country as this confuses investors and the environment. In November, Finance Minister (Patrick) Chinamasa announced in his budget that he had postponed the introduction of the tax until January 2017 but the Government’s finance bill, which was published on 9 January, says a different issue,” said Mr Gundani.
He said policy inconsistency is detrimental to the country’s investment climate as it adds to confusion on the country’s ability to attract investment.
According to reports, platinum mining companies had lobbied the Ministry of Finance to delay introducing the levy to 2017 as they had come up with a roadmap for that year on plans to set up a local refinery.
Mr Gundani said if concerns by the companies that the 15 percent export tax will lead to potential job losses and company closures are genuine, it would defeat the whole purpose of the policy.
“As Buy Zimbabwe we are for wealth and job creation. We, therefore, call on both Government and mining houses to put the economy and people of Zimbabwe first before making decisions that are likely to jeopardise the envisaged gains from the policy intent,” he said.
Mr Gundani said although Buy Zimbabwe appreciates Government interest to beneficiate the country’s natural resources to create more jobs and add value, the implications of the immediate implementation of the export tax are detrimental to the affected companies and the economy.
He said the levy is likely to compromise expansion projects and also likely to cause a cutback on capital expenditure and trigger retrenchments.
However, the Government has reiterated that the export tax will be maintained for now because the companies have failed to provide a roadmap on how they plan to set up a local refinery.
Zimbabwe holds the world’s second largest platinum deposits and the costs to build the refinery and the power plant needed to run it have been estimated to be about $3 billion, equivalent to more than 20 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
There are three platinum mines in Zimbabwe, Zimplats, Mimosa and Unki.
