'Delete amendments to cashew nut tax,' Parliamentary Committee tells Tanzania government

Dodoma. The Parliamentary Budget Committee wants the government to completely delete a section of the Finance Bill, 2018 that deals with the handling of cashew nut export levy.

Read more: Tanzania government signals no change in controversial cashew nut tax

Presenting the Finance Bill, 2018 in Parliament today (Thursday, June 28, 2018), the Finance and Planning Minister, Dr Phillip Mpango said the government was proposing to amend the Cashewnut Industry Act (Cap,203) – through the Finance Bill 2018 - with a view to ensuring that export levies are collected in the consolidated fund.

This will be a shift from the current situation whereby 65 per cent of the crop export levy is meant to be remitted to farmers through the cashew nut fund and the remaining 35 per cent is to be directed to the government’s consolidated fund.

But presenting the views of the Parliamentary Committee on Budget, the group chairperson, Ms Hawa Ghasia said the section should be deleted completely.

"The committee wants this section deleted. Funds for the development of the cashew nut crop must be channeled to the Cashew nut Board - through the Ministry of Agriculture - by following a method that will be agreed upon by cashew nut stakeholders and the government," said Ms Ghasia.

Yesterday (Wednesday), MPs from the opposition bench said they will not relent in their ‘struggle’ to ensure that rights of the growers of the cashew nut crop – which brings the highest amount of foreign exchange earnings than a combination of five other traditional export products – are not ‘tampered with’.