Published by the government of Zimbabwe
16 May 2008
Harare — The shipping and forwarding industry is bracing for increased business following the recent incentives extended to exporters by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
Under the new system, exporters would retain more of their export proceeds in foreign currency if they grow their business. Shipping and Forwarding Agents' Association of Zimbabwe chief executive Mr Joseph Musariri said although the new measures were yet to achieve the desired effect, there was a lot of business potential for their industry.
"The industry will benefit through increased imports of raw materials by businesses as they increase their production on one hand, and as they export their goods to the region and their other markets. "As an industry, we see great potential in our business from this movement of goods in and out of the country," he said. He added that the envisaged increased business was also going to put them in good stead to benefit as exporters. "As an industry, we are also classified as exporters because there are certain aspects of our business that involve handling of foreign currency.
"If we grow our business as an industry, we can then also benefit from increased retention levels," he said. To this end, Mr Musariri said, as an association they had lined up a workshop to be held next week to look at the new incentives and collect views from their members on certain aspects that may need to be addressed. The workshop, he said, would focus on the retention scheme, liquidation requirements, cheque limits, duty payments and transit bond payments. Under the new incentives, those who grow their exports will benefit through increased retention of their proceeds in their foreign currency accounts. An exporter who grows their exports by 10 percent would now retain 75 percent of the proceeds, while those that increase their exports from 15 percent would retain 80 percent and those that grow their exports by 20 percent would retain 85 percent.
In addition, those that grow by 25 percent would retain 90 percent, 30 percent would retain 95 percent and 35 percent and above 97,5 percent.
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