THE Indigenous Petroleum Group of Zimbabwe (IPGZ) has proposed a further reduction of Carbon Tax and scrapping of debt redemption to ensure the fuel prices in Zimbabwe are in line with regional prices.
In line with their fuel cost build up, IPGZ this week said government should reduce Carbon Tax from $0,013 per litre for diesel to $0,005, and $0,040 per litre for petrol to $0,005 per litre.
Commenting on their proposal to scrap debt redemption IPGZ said they “strongly feel it is a National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim) liability and sovereign debt” and questioned how it came about.“How much is it and why should oil companies and consumers bear the brunt over historical Noczim mismanagement?” IPGZ questioned.IPGZ said the Zimbabwe National Road Authority Road Levy needed to be slashed to $0,01 per litre of petrol and diesel. “Sadly we do not see where these funds have been applied and our roads are in a sorry state to say the least, this fund needs to be audited, to establish where the funds are,” said IPGZ.IPGZ questioned the Strategic Reserves Levy saying there were no such things as strategic fuel reserves in Zimbabwe.“Who manages these and where are they? What is the volume stocks target build up for these?” IPGZ questioned.The IPGZ said the amounts of money being allocated to these areas were huge.“If you proportionate per litre imported it would translate to 30 000 000 to 40 000 000 litres per month,” IPGZ said.“Should these be reduced, this could have a positive impact on the pump price and essentially on the Zimbabwean industry,” IPGZ added.The price of fuel is higher by an average of US$0,32c compared to what the region is charging.“We applaud, genuinely, Finance Minister Tendai Biti for attending to the punitive duties. The Ministry of Energy and Power Development officials have been in denial all these years that the duties had no bearing on industry since the consumer was bearing the cost,” said IPGZ.“Looking at the regional fuel prices, our cost build-up provides for the most expensive fuel in the region, due to greed and denial by government officials in the Ministry of Energy that our pricing system is unsustainable,” they said.“For the record, before 1999 Zimbabwe was using an average 155 000 000 litres fuels per month, but we are down to below 30 000 000 litres per month.”“We cannot squeeze revenue targets from the same volume, but rather reduce taxes and excise duties to ensure we raise more volumes especially through diesel so that industry produces and those volumes are boosted and therefore raise the revenue base,” said IPGZ.
Paul Nyakazeya
