Government introduces Freddy levy

Minister of Finance Sosten Gwengwe says government has introduced a K54 per litre levy on fuel in order to raise funds for reconstruction of road infrastructure destroyed by Tropical Cyclone Freddy.

The Freddy levy, according to Gwengwe, will enable government to collected a total of K30 billion by the end of this fiscal year.

This however, according to the minister, will not in any way affect the fuel pump price.

He said: “We have relooked at price build up mechanism and what we have managed to come up with is K54 per liter. It was just a matter of rearrangement of some levies and only the Minister of Finance is the one who can be able to do that and this will not affect the fuel pump price which the consumers pay.”

Gwengwe, speaking at Kamuzu International Airport (KIA) on Saturday when he symbolically received a donation from the Japanese Government towards Cyclone Freddy victims, said the infrastructure damage is making it hard to reach other survivors of the cyclone.

This, according to Gwengwe is what has prompted government to be creative and come up with the levy.

The Japanese Government handed over assorted items that include 350 large tents, 350 portable water tanks and water purifiers.

Commenting on the donation, the minister said the items will help a lot as government is erecting independent camps for the victims thereby relieving schools of the burden of housing victims of the cyclone. This will in turn help ensure that learners of the concerned schools resume classes.

“Dodma [ department of disaster management affairs] indicated that there is a need for large tents to help us erect independent camps for the victims and this donation comes on time to address that. We are therefore so grateful to the Japanese government for this donation,” he said.

On his part, Japanese Ambassador to Malawi Yoichi Oya said the support has been provided in the spirit of global solidarity.