No Taxes For Food Items In Southern Sudan, Says GOSS

29 July 2010 - (Juba) – The Government of Southern Sudan has passed a resolution waiving taxes on all imported food items.

Southern Sudan imports over eighty percent of its products from neighboring countries such as Uganda, Kenya, in addition to those coming from northern Sudan.

The director for domestic trade in the Government of Southern Sudan, Augustine Kenyi said on Tuesday that the resolution will make food affordable to the ordinary citizen.

[Augustine Kenyi]: “On the seventh of July, the council of ministers came up with a resolution that says -all food stuffs are supposed to be tax-free. The objective is to make food available and also accessible to the public because food is a basic need to our people. So it is now the mandate of the ministry of commerce and industry to implement the resolutions. The committee has been formed and they will go to all the ten states, they will tour the borders carrying out the awareness on the resolution in the market.”

The director for external trade in the ministry of commerce and industry, Moses Kur said that illegal roadblocks along highways linking the borders to the states have been responsible for hikes in market prices in southern Sudan.

[Moses Kur]: “We are aware that there are a lot of roadblocks on the way, and when the traders add all that they lost during the transit until the final destination, it affects the market place and the prices. There are some roadblocks that are illegally decided by some scrupulous individuals and not the intention of the ministry. We have a decentralized system of governance whereby states also have rights for collections, but we need to understand what collections should the state actually take; whether it is on the import or export that had already been charged or levies that has already been realized when they entered into the border.”

Kur added that the directorate of External trade will deploy inspectors on highways to dismantle illegal roadblocks and to regulate and stabilize food prices in the trading centers.

[Moses Kur]: “Our constitution prohibits the inter-states taxes. When goods are passing from one state to another, they are not supposed to be taxed. The areas in which the states can intervene are in the market places where they have the right to ask for operation licenses, trading licenses and property tax. So we are working to make sure those taxes and policies are harmonized. We will send inspectors to the markets to make sure that licenses are renewed, roadblocks are eliminated and ensure that trade is formalized. These people whom we will dispatch to inspect the market will have identifications on them.”

The directors from the GOSS ministry of commerce and industry added that since 2005, southern Sudan has offered a free market zone which accommodates more foreign investors than local investors.