TANZANIA has extended a 20-month-old waiver on maize import duty to December to encourage imports of the staple crop to meet a food shortage due to drought. ”We have extended the exemption on duty on maize to encourage the business community to import maize,” said Gray Mgonja, deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance. ”There is a serious shortage of maize.” The measure has been in place since January 1999 when the government waived a 25% import duty to meet a food shortage at that time. This year, Tanzania again faces a critical food shortage, with an estimated 2.79 million people in 10 of the country’s 20 regions on the mainland affected following the failure of the seasonal rains for two years. Officials said the total food deficit facing the country was 662 879 tonnes of maize. – Reuters
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