By Michael Gwarisa
Minister of Finance and Investment Promotion, Professor Mthuli Ncube has defended his recent tax regime citing that it was one of the guaranteed means of boosting domestic financing for healthcare, especially HIV care.
Professor Ncube recently announced a $58,2 trillion Budget for 2024 where he introduced new taxation on wealth and sugary beverages including alcohol starting January next year. He said the new levy on the sugar content of beverages was in response to growing concerns about the adverse effects of consumption of sugar, particularly in beverages.
Speaking during a panel session on Child Budgeting on HIV sustainability in Zimbabwe, Professor Ncube said investing in domestic financing for healthcare was the way to go.
When you spend money on health, it is not just expenditure, it is investment. You are investing in human capital. In my previous life, I did some very detailed research work on Uganda where we analysed the economic impact of shifting tax expenditure towards health in that country.
“What we found out is that an increase in allocation of tax revenues to increasing the budget on HIV had the impact of increasing the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in Uganda by 2 percent. So this is not a small matter, investment in health and investment in the HIV response is crucial. We are almost close to attaining the Abuja target, we are almost there,” said Prof Ncube.
He said Zimbabwe was already doing well in terms of HIV financing and the 3 percent HIV levy or the AIDS levy had stood the test of time.
“We are committed to ring-fencing the 3 percent HIV levy and we will maintain it. We are committed to that. It will not be removed, not any time soon, not by anybody. I realise that HIV has comorbidities which turn out to be Non-Communicable Diseases so we thought it necessary to come up with some other ways to fund these comorbidities.
“So last year we introduced some Sin Taxes on Cigarettes and on alcohol. This year, I have introduced another tax on sugary drinks and the figure is 2 Cents per gram of Sugar in a Can of Coca-Cola. There is an outcry from manufacturing but the principle is clear, we want to create a cancer fight.”
Minister of Health and Child Care (MoHCC), Dr Douglass Momebshora said Zimbabwe was already working on a sustainable plan to finance health locally.
“The journey toward sustainable and localised HIV programming is a long-term process and I am glad to report that the sustainability assessment to understand the gaps are currently underway. Thanks to PEPFAR and USAID for the financial support. The desire is to have a roadmap ready by 2024 with idea of having a clear transition plan towards domestic funding on HIV and health as a while,” said Dr Mombeshora.
Meanwhile, UNICEF Representative, Zimbabwe, Dr Tajudeen Oyewale said Zimbabwe was making progress in improving child healthcare.
“Firstly, efforts to eliminate Mother to Child transmission of HIV, Syphilis and Hepatitis is a welcome development. Secondly, in Zimbabwe, there is a major focus on adolescent girls and when you talk about adolescents, there are most children. That focus on adolescent girls and adolescents is another investment in children. Lastly, there is the broader work we do under the leadership of the minster around new-born and child healthcare which is the base of where you are able to make contact with women and children whether it is the ANC, delivery care Post Natal Care and all that comes around that,” said Dr Oyewale.
