By CHATULA KANGALI –

THE Professional Insurance Corporation Zambia (PICZ) has urged Government to provide special incentives to existing businesses that will help enhance value addition in the country.
PICZ managing director Geoffrey Chirwa said the existing companies were seeking to enhance value addition to their products and foster economic growth of the country.
Mr Chirwa said the Government should reduce corporate tax  by five per cent as this would help existing businesses in the country enhance value addition.
He noted that Zambia’s corporate tax was the highest in the region and, hence, hindering businesses from expanding.
“Reducing corporate tax even by five percentage points can go a long way in the growing of  businesses  as  this  would  help firms to have more  funds at their disposal for reinvestment and expansion,
thereby creating more jobs in the country,” he said.
Mr Chirwa was speaking during the Zambia International Trade Fair (ZITF) Minister’s welcoming cocktail at Mukuba Hotelin Ndola on Tuesday night.
He said the Government should  consider revising the interest rates being charged by commercial banks which made the cost of borrowing for business unaffordable.
Meanwhile, Commerce, Trade and Industry Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe urged firms taking part in this  year’s trade fair to network as this would help them improve  on their businesses.
Mr Mwanakatwe said this year’s trade fair had attracted the highest number of foreign exhibitors, hence the need for local firms to interact with them so that they learn new ideas.
This year’s ZITF, under the theme ‘Enhanced Value Addition for Job Creation’, has attracted 531 exhibitors out of whom 430 are local and 101 are foreign.