THE government has collected US$18 million from the controversial sugar tax introduced early this year to help in the fight against non-communicable diseases.
Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion minister Mthuli Ncube revealed this in Parliament, while responding to written questions from Emkhandeni-Luveve legislator Discent Bajila.
Bajila had asked for an update on the sugar tax collection for the first quarter of 2024 and its impact on curbing non-communicable diseases.
“Madam Speaker, special tax of beverages with sugar content for the first quarter amounted to ZiG7,9 million, cumulative collections to date amounted to ZiG248,9 million which is equivalent to about US$18 million.
“Treasury is in the process of working on modalities to join in with the Minister of Health for the procurement of cancer machines and drugs for distribution in our hospitals.
“We are working speedily with the Ministry of Health and Child Care through the procurement processes so that we can acquire these machines and drugs as soon as possible,” he said.
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Ncube added: “I think I will be very happy, at least on the day that we receive the first machine as a beneficiary from this fund, to invite relevant members of this august House to come and witness the installation of these machines in one or two of our hospitals. We are working speedily, I can assure you.”
In his 2024 budget presentation, Ncube proposed to introduce a levy of US$0,02 per gramme of sugar contained in beverages, excluding water.
The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, however, said the levy was too high.
He slashed the figure to US$0,001 per gramme.