Ver Angola

Trade

Industrialists say suspension of customs duties will not lower prices

The president of the Industrial Association of Angola (AIA) considered this Friday pertinent the suspension of customs duties on the importation of some products of the basic food basket, admitting, however, that the measure "should not reduce, but maintain the price of the products".

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In statements to Lusa, José Severino applauded the measure, considering it relevant and useful, but noted that the same "will not be enough to reduce prices, because prices on the international market remain high".

"The production in many places is down and prices naturally rise, so what has gone up will hardly be compensated in a perspective of effective reduction. Probably what will is to contain the price level," said the EIA leader.

The Council of Ministers approved on Tuesday the temporary exemption of customs duties on imports of rice, pork, beef jerky, chicken thigh, corn grain, cooking oil and milk powder aiming to reduce the prices of these products.

Citizens, opposition political parties and other Angolan civil society actors lament the exponential rise in the prices of basic food basket products due to the population's loss of purchasing power because of the devaluation of the kwanza.

José Severino, also an economist, considered, on the other hand, that the country needs to make a "correction in the prices of products", whose depreciation of the national currency contributed to the increase of prices in the market.

"We had a variable that was the depreciation of the currency, which ended up in a way, in import products, by exponentiating prices, and we have been discussing with the executive how to reduce the price to the consumer," he said.

According to the president of the AIA, another instrument that should lead to a reduction in product prices is the reduction of Value Added Tax (VAT), set at 14 percent, which in his opinion "ends up being a cascading tax".

The responsible justified: "We import wheat or corn and we pay VAT, in its processing is also paid VAT and this is very heavy for the current level of consumption capacity or current wage level".

"And so we are proposing that right now the VAT goes to 1 percent on the basic basket goods," he argued.

The suspension of customs tariffs on goods in the basic food basket "is an important step, but, probably, the measure is a short skirt to solve the problem of reducing costs, probably the costs will remain at the same level," further insisted José Severino.

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