Parliament committee to push for more industry funding, tax reforms

THE parliamentary portfolio committee on Industry and Commerce will use next week’s Pre-Budget Seminar in Bulawayo to lobby for increased funding for the ministry, arguing that taxation should drive economic growth rather than focus solely on revenue collection.

Committee chairperson and Zaka South MP Clemence Chiduwa told journalists after a hearing on the ministry’s budget priorities at the New Parliament Building in Mt Hampden that the committee would push for more resources to support the sector.

“There is a need then for the Industry and Commerce committee to debate and argue on behalf of the ministry for more resources,” Chiduwa said.

He said the committee had also received submissions from key industry stakeholders, including the Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR), Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) and Delta Corporation.

“We also got submissions from the stakeholders, from the Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers. We also got submissions from CZI, ZNCC, Delta. And again, what we looked at is how best can we continue with the reforms in terms of the ease of doing business,” Chiduwa added.

The former Finance deputy minister said the committee believed the Government must mobilise resources to fund the 2027 National Budget while ensuring the tax regime supports industrial expansion.

“The focus of the committee is to generate and mobilize the resources for funding the budget. But in the process, let’s look at taxation, which is coming from the Treasury. Let’s tax for growth and not for revenue,” he said.

“Because at the end of the day, for us what we want is to develop the economy, to grow the economy. So this can be done if we focus mainly on the growth of the sector.”

Chiduwa said manufacturing, retail and wholesale combined now contribute around 29% of Zimbabwe’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), highlighting the importance of developing the manufacturing sector.

“If you take all this, they are now contributing around 29% of GDP. This is very critical and there is need for us to make sure that manufacturing is developed,” he said.

“And on manufacturing, we are not just looking at value addition, but we are looking at value addition in the manufacturing sector.”

On strategic minerals, Chiduwa said Zimbabwe needed to move beyond exporting raw materials and focus on producing finished products locally.

“If we are looking at strategic minerals, lithium, platinum, palladium and all that, we are looking at having the product. Let’s have that product,” he said.

He said the committee would prepare a report for adoption ahead of the Bulawayo pre-budget seminar. The report will be used to lobby for increased resources and guide policy on developing the manufacturing sector.

“Going forward, the committee is going to come up with a report. This report is then going to be adopted by the committee. That’s the report which is going to be used by the chairperson at the pre-budget seminar to lobby for more resources and also to guide the policy in terms of how the manufacturing sector should be developed,” Chiduwa said.

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