BY NIZBERT MOYO INDUSTRIALISTS yesterday described as too low the 40% foreign currency retention for local firms after exporting their products, which they said was affecting viability.
This came out at a tour of Zambezi Tanners Private Limited and Zimbabwe Grain Bag by Presidential Affairs minister Jorum Gumbo.
Exporters are required to sell 40% of their earnings to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe at the official exchange rate and retain 60%, which they have to utilise within a month.
Zambezi Tanners (Pvt) Limited general manager Arnold Britten told NewsDay that the 40% liquidation on foreign receipts affected their business operations, and called for 100% retention on export earnings.
“We should be given 100% of it and a 12-month window period so that we recover and expand our businesses,’’ he said.
The company exports its finished products to countries like the United States, China, South Korea, Japan, Mexico, France and South Africa.
“We call upon the government to intervene because we pay value-added tax to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) on time, but it owes us money which it takes its time to pay back,” he said.
“We tried to negotiate with it (Zimra) for an offset, but it did not agree. Our money then loses value.”
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Gumbo promised to engage Zimra.
He said the tour was part of the Industry and Commerce ministry’s 100-day cycle programme to “address anomalies associated with its implementation”.
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