Center for Trade Policy and Development (CTPD) has urged government to establish an effective tracking and tracing system for easy monitoring and investigations of illicit trade of Tobacco, as over 400 million cigarettes enter the country illegally.
During the policy launch and briefing on the Illicit Tobacco Trade Study and Tobacco Taxation Study held on March 11, 2020, attended by Zambian Business Times-ZBT, CTPD acting executive director Moscane Hampongo said the two briefs are particularly significant in view of the fact that Tobacco in Zambia kills over 7,000 people annually.
He added that consuming of Tobacco in Zambia is a serious problem as the youths and adolescents are increasingly engaging in its consumption, as more than 400 million cigarettes a year enter the market illicitly.
“According to the Tobacco Institute of Southern Africa (2016), in Zambia, more than 400 million cigarettes a year enter the market illicitly smuggled, counterfeited or tax evaded which accounts for 30 percent of the product on the market”, said Hampongo.
He said it is unfortunate to note that Zambia is currently among the countries with the highest rates of illicit Tobacco Trade in Southern Africa and the cost of the Tobacco related illness on the public health system is in excess of K2 billion.
Hampongo further explained that estimates indicate that illegal quantities of cigarettes in Zambia are costing the country and revenue authorities over k50 million revenue losses each annually.
Speaking at the same event, CTPD senior researcher Bright Chizonde, revealed that in 2010, Zambia was ranked as the 5th Largest African exporter of Tobacco, with an annual export value of over US$110 million which accounts for only 0.9% of Gross Domestic Product compared to 3% of GDP for Malawi.
Chizonde however, said the Tobacco Industry in Zambia contends that the most notable contribution of Tobacco to the economy is it’s contributions in terms of employment.
“The tobacco industry claims direct employment in the sub-sector is about 450,000 people, and that the majority of which are in the rural areas. During the period 2013 to 2018, the Zambian government collected K904 million (about US$60 million)”.
Illegal entry of Tobacco and cigerattes deprived and constricts the market for local producers. Zambia now has local cigarette manufacturing facilities at the Lusaka South Multi facility economic zone.
