By JUDITH NAMUTOWE –
GOVERNMENT collected revenue of more than K8.2 billion from the mining sector in 2013, the latest Extractive Industry and Transparency Initiative (EITI) report has said.
This represented an increase of 2.3 per cent or a difference of K186million from the 2012 revenue collection of K8.02billion.
The EITI report indicated that the revenue included dividends and other investment income collected by the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mine-Investment Holdings (ZCCM-IH) from its subsidiaries which operated in the mining sector and payments paid by the extractive companies.
The report said the budget recorded payments of K7.77 billion representing 94.7 per cent of the total cash flow from the extractive industry in 2013, with the largest share being derived from copper and cobalt producers, contributing 85.3 per cent of the state’s
total mining budget.
During the year under review, import tax increased by K804 million from K1.4 million in 2012 to K2.2 million in 2013. Mineral royalty taxes also recorded an increase of K235million from K1.4million in 2012 to K1.7million in 2013.
Pay As You Earn (PAYE) recorded an increase of K335million between 2012 and 2013, but that there was a decrease which was recorded in Company Income Tax by almost half, from K2.7million to K1.3million.
The tax regime between the two years remained unchanged.
In terms of contribution to the country’s economy, since 2000, the mining industry attracted investment in excess of US$8 billion.
It is projected that investment in the mining sector would reach approximately US$15 billion on account of new projects under implementation or exploration by the year 2017 if copper prices held above levels recorded in 2013.
Zambia still had an exceptionally high level of macro-economic dependence on mining by international standards.
Compared to other countries, mining made a usually large contribution to total national investment and to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
In 2012, FDI into mining accounted for 61.7 per cent of the total FDI however this contribution declined significantly to 3.4 per cent in 2013.
