The Zambia Association of Manufacturers successfully hosted its 32nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Thursday, 10th May, 2018 at Radisson Blu Hotel in Lusaka, Zambia. The AGM ran under the theme; “Consolidating ZAM’s Positioning for National Development” and was graced by the Hon. Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry – Mr. Christopher Yaluma.
The meeting discussed amongst other things the push for the enactment of the ZAM Act of Parliament, enhancing competitive practices in the Industry, as well as the roll out of the official Proudly Zambian Logo onto the market. Various senior government officials from different ministries and departments were in attendance and interacted directly with the ZAM membership as they tabled various potential opportunities for the growth of the sector, as well as the issues that are adversely affecting the growth and hampering the development of the manufacturing sector. Specifically, the ZAM President Mrs. Roseta highlighted the following key concerns for the manufacturing sector;
- The erroneous application and delay of suspension of the 5% surtax on selected inputs; specifically, steel products, agro-processing inputs and agricultural inputs such as imported wheat when wheat is off season in Zambia.
- Increasing challenges with the cost of doing business arising from tax administration issues. Specifically;
- Vat – refunds, withholding vat, withholding tax, and the administration of vat rule 18 which has in addition to being cumbersome, proved to be a hinderance to the development of e-commerce due to its vast technical and procedural requirements.
- Erroneous charges arising from a flawed e-system resulting in the additional payment of advance income tax (15%) when importing inputs;
- Delays in the issuance of tax clearance certificates
- As well as an increasing amount of time being wasted addressing administrative challenges at the ZRA, instead of resources being allocated to the generation of revenues for national development
- The high cost of borrowing
- Enhancing sectoral linkages between manufacturing and key sectors such as mining and construction, the sector continues to struggle to make meaningful strides in ensuring inclusiveness in the procurement processes of these 2 sectors.
The Secretariat is gratified with the noted support for the growth of the sector arising from the Hon. Yaluma’s commitment to seeing the identified concerns resolved.
