Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe Slashes Business Licence Fees Across 13 Sectors

What the report says

Zimbabwe’s cabinet has approved another round of reductions in business licence fees and related charges across 13 sectors, according to a report from New Zimbabwe distributed by AllAfrica. The latest changes were announced as part of the government’s broader Mop-Up Review of licences, permits, levies and fees, an effort aimed at improving the country’s ease of doing business and trimming regulatory costs for companies and small enterprises.

Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said the review was expanded to cover sectors and subsectors that were left out of the earlier phase of reforms. The areas mentioned in the report include agriculture, education, transport, sport and the natural stone export subsector. The government also said it is targeting duplicated or overlapping licences, unnecessary levies and charges it considers too high.

Among the measures cited are lower fees for some industrial hemp and medicinal cannabis-related applications, a halving of certain sports levies, a cut in some local authority venue-hire and advertising charges, and the abolition of cemetery entry fees. Some education fees and vehicle change-of-ownership fees will remain unchanged, while a one-stop shop is planned to simplify vehicle ownership transfers. The report says a detailed schedule of the revised charges is still to be released. More generally, the move fits Zimbabwe’s recent push to reduce licensing complexity and lower costs for business activity.