Restrictions on the importation of vehicles including buses

In the 2021 budget, the Minister of Finance, Economic Planning, and Development has proposed restricting the importation of motor vehicles and buses. The Minister has proposed doing this through the following measures:

Requiring a special import licence on second-hand vehicles that are more than 10 years old (based on the date of manufacture).
Stopping the importation of vehicles by Government Ministries and Departments under the duty-free concession.
Removing the facility for duty-free importation of luxury cross border buses.
Removing the duty-free importation of vehicles by serving Government workers.

These measures are designed to encourage the purchase of vehicles and buses from local assemblers. Local assemblers will be expected to increase the local content of their vehicles to at least 35%.

Cannabis levy

The Minister also proposed a Cannabis Levy at rates ranging from 10% to 20%. The rate will depend on the level of processing and will be chargeable on the value of exports.

Denford Zambezi
dzambezi@bdo.co.zw

Maxwell Ngorima
mngorima@bdo.co.zw