Govt waives duty on aircraft spares
HARARE – Government has removed duty on the importation of all aircraft spare parts, a waiver that will see cash-strapped Air Zimbabwe free up millions of dollars needed for maintenance checks. A Government Gazette published on Friday stated that Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa has in terms of section 235 of the Customs and Excise Act rescinded duty on engine spares for the national flag carrier. This comes as Air Zimbabwe has been forced to hire planes from South Africa to service its routes as foreign currency shortages are delaying the acquisition of spare parts for its grounded fleet. Consequently, it has resulted in long flight delays, cancellations and a long line of disgruntled travellers. Subject to this section and to such conditions as the commissioner-general may, fix a rebate of duty shall, with effect from 1st January 2017 to 31 December 2017, be granted on engine spares and components for Air Zimbabwe, reads the gazette. It further lists numerous engine spares and tariff headings which have been approved by Chinamasa to benefit from the rebate in a bid to avert departure and arrival delays.The national flag carrier, which at Independence in 1980 boasted a fleet of 18 planes, is technically insolvent and operating at less than a third of that capacity.
Zim slips on global competitiveness Index
ZIMBABWE slipped on the global competitiveness by one place to position 126 out of 139 countries during the period 2016-2017 due to poor levels of economic productivity, a Global Competitive Index (GCI) report has shown. GCI defines competitiveness as the set of institutions, policies, and factors that determine the level of productivity of an economy, which in turn sets the level of prosperity that the country can achieve. The country scored 3, 41 points out of the required 7 points. Economist John Robertson said the country’s poor ranking on competitiveness would continue to chase away investment in the country.
Despite the vanishing of the United States dollar from the market and the cash shortages buffeting the country, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) says it is importing $10 million of the greenback weekly. RBZ governor, John Mangudya said the importation of the dollar was consistent with maintaining a dollarised economy. “Yes, we import cash almost every week and we are now importing $10 million on a weekly basis. When we say we import cash we say we import dollars because we said we want to continue using the dollar in this economy,” he told NewsDay last week.