Minister triumphs 59pc mineral’s income

Dar es Salaam. Government’s revenue earned from royalties, inspection fees and annual rent in the mining sector increased to Sh242bn in the first half of the current financial year compared to Sh152bn that was collected during the similar period a previous year.

The 59.2 percent revenue growth is attributed to bold measures the government has been taking to optimally benefit from the mining sector.

Minerals minister Doto Biteko told The Citizen yesterday that during the first six months of the current fiscal year, the government collected Sh242.05bn, compared to Sh152bn collected the previous year. The amount collected in the first half of this financial year is a 103 percent of the targeted Sh235 billion.

Furthermore, the figure suggests that the government was collecting an average of Sh40.3bn per month.

Minister Biteko attributed the upward trend to improvement in business environment by cutting bureaucracy and cracking down on corruption.

He said the government’s decision to establish regional minerals trading centres, increased investors’ confidence as it cut red tape in the issuing of export permits.

“With minerals trading markets, there is transparent in business and so is the cut in bureaucracy,” Mr Biteko told this paper over telephone interview.

He also linked increased trust or confidence to relaxation of tax regime in mining sector.

In February last year, the government scrapped withholding tax of five per cent payable by small scale miners and zero-rating Value Added Tax (VAT) on precious metal and gemstones by small miners at mineral and gemstone houses. This came after the Attorney General, Prof Adelardus Kilangi, tabled to the parliament the Written Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments) No.2 Act, 2019.

The development came just nearly two weeks after President Magufuli said taxes imposed on mining sector were unacceptably high, suggesting for relaxation in order to encourage miners to pay taxes and reduce chances of tax evasion.

“Things have improved since President John Magufuli came into power. Investors’ appetite for the sector has gone up due to improvement in business environment,” noted Biteko.