. Sends excise tax bill for further review
ADDIS ABABA – The House of Peoples Representative (HPR) yesterday refereed the privatization and investment proclamations for review to the relevant standing committee The House also referred the excise tax draft bill to the concerned standing committee for further consideration as well.
While presenting the draft bills before the Parliament, Chala Lemi, Deputy Government Whip with the rank of State Minister, said that a new privatization proclamation is needed as the previous proclamation is more than 20 years old, and there is need to amend the law.He told the MPs that the newly drafted privatization law will play a major role in improving competitiveness of public enterprises, and making them successful in generating capital and finance, encouraging investment and promoting healthy business competition.
With regards to the investment bill, the deputy whip stated that the main objective of the draft bill is to create viable job opportunities, generate much needed foreign currency, transfer experience and technology. Apart from this, it takes the appropriate usage of the country’s natural, cultural and other resources, into consideration, Chala noted.
The main reason to amend the existing law rests with speeding up the country’s economy, ensuring sustainable economic development, improving the livelihood of the citizens, and strengthening domestic productivity. The draft investment law aims at accelerating economic development and sustaining growth by enhancing the role of the private sector, he added.
In general, the draft law is set in a way to go with the ongoing economic reform, and it helps pave the way for both domestic and foreign investors to boost their participation in economic sector, he stressed. On the occasion, member of the parliament opined that amending the existing investment and privatization law will helps to boost the investment flow, and opens the economy for more investments, and recommended the concerned standing committees to further review the draft bills.
Regarding the excise tax draft bill, Chala said that it will help the government to control illegal trade and to collect tax properly. In addition, setting excise tax on products which are unsafe for the health of the society is seen to be important. According to the new law, the lowest average of excise tax is 10 percent and the highest is up to 500 percent.
The Ethiopian Herald December 18/2019
BY HAILE DEMEKE
