Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) failed to meet its 2018 mining royalty target as miners faced economic and weather related challenges during the year.
Zimbabwean miners were faced with foreign currency challenges which resulted in suspension of activities.
“Collections amounted to $21.08 million against a set target of $25.24 million, translating to a negative variance of 16.48%,” ZIMRA Board Chairman Dr. Callisto Jokonya said.
“The performance of the revenue head is attributed to fluctuations in commodity prices and heavy rains that were experienced in January 2019 that might have affected mining operations mostly of artisanal and small-scale miners.”
Zimbabwe miners were forced to suspend operations with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) failing to produce the foreign currency needed to import raw materials.
Chamber of Mines last year presented a paper that noted liquidity challenges as a barrier to the sector’s growth.
The other challenge miners faced was the rising costs of inputs which was driven by the multi-tier pricing system that presented itself last year.
Miners also faced the challenge of high electricity bills which were averaging from $0,13/KWh for on-peak usage, $0,07/KWh for standard usage to 0,04/KWh for off-peak usage.
ZIMRA however managed to collect
Compared to the same period last year, collections grew by 10.08% from $19.15 million that was collected in the first quarter of 2018.
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