Data released by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority has revealed that there has been a fall of more than 50% in second-hand vehicle imports following the government’s de facto ban earlier this month. Although it’s not technically a ban, the severe restrictions introduced by Statutory Instrument 89 of 2021 has made importing cars extremely difficult.

Prior to the implementation of Statutory Instrument 89 of 2021 on April 2, we would process import documents for 60 vehicles at Beitbridge per day. That has reduced to an average of 22 cars.

Unfortunately, I cannot disclose the amount of revenue we are getting from vehicle imports since our system does not separate revenue from motor vehicles and that which is received from other goods.

Francis Chimanda Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) spokesperson

It’s not clear how much ZIMRA and by extension the government were getting from duty paid by those importing vehicles but whatever it is you can expect that the revenue would have fallen by more than half too.