Harare, (New Ziana) – The Zimbabwe government on Tuesday approved a raft of reforms aimed at lowering excessively high licences, permits and levies in the manufacturing as well as within the financial services sectors.
Addressing the media after the Cabinet meeting, the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Zhemu Soda, said the government also streamlined overlapping and duplicated regulatory licences and permits, removing unnecessary levies and fees.
He said the move followed comprehensive proposals presented by the Acting Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, Felix Mhona.
“Among fees that were removed are monthly fees for accounts with less than US$100 balances, fees for transactions less than US$5, cash deposit charges for both US dollar and Zimbabwe Gold amounts and cash withdrawal fees capped at 2 percent for both USD and ZiG,” he said.
He said account opening charges were also reduced, alongside fees across micro-finance institutions, insurance and pensions, as well as mobile money, fintech, and capital markets sub-sectors.
“The reviewed licences, permits and fees will be subjected to further refinements and a comprehensive schedule will be duly gazetted,” he said.
Soda added that Cabinet also approved a review of licences, permits, and levies in the manufacturing sector, covering ten selected light and heavy sub-sectors, including beverages, agro-processing, confectionery and food, textiles and clothing, timber, paint, pharmaceuticals, brick moulding, motor vehicle assembly, and iron and steel industries.
The revised framework for the manufacturing sector includes the removal of the Rural District Councils (RDCs) Timber Movement Permit and the consolidation of Environmental Management Agency (EMA) registration and monitoring licences, which were previously charged separately.
General Import Licence fees, Nuclear Gauge Licence fees, and Radiation Authority of Zimbabwe registration charges were also reviewed.
According to Soda, Cabinet further approved the streamlining of duplicated and overlapping regulatory licences and permits, removal of unnecessary levies and fees, and reduction of unjustifiably high charges in the health sector.
“Highlights in this regard include the removal of initial registration fees for wholesalers and initial registration of pharmaceutical premises and facilities. Annual inspection fees for manufacturing wholesalers and pharmaceutical wholesalers, initial licence registration fees for retail pharmacies and annual renewal premises licence registration fees for retail pharmacies were also reduced,” he said.
Cabinet also approved fee reductions for applications to change material particulars in the registration of a health institution, clinical trials of locally funded human and veterinary medicines, as well as hospital tier approval letters.
New Ziana
