Ministry Issues Revised Tariff Book to Support Manufacturing Sector

ADDIS ABABA – Ministry of Finance has unveiled the revised customs duty and tax manual that aims to prop up Ethiopia’s push to substitute imported goods with domestically produced products.

The tariff book has recently been revised to encourage the growth of Ethiopia’s manufacturing sector, said the ministry in a statement on Friday.

The 37l-page long manual lists the tariff of over 8,000 line items for raw material, intermediate goods, and capital goods.

A special tariff committee, composed of experts from the Finance Ministry, Ministry of Revenue, Customs Commission, and Trade and Industry Ministry, prepared the Book, according to the Ministry.

The tariff book, the ministry said, will be key in implementing its two strategies devised to enable local producers to compete in terms of tariffs and replace imported goods.

The first strategy is making domestic production more competitive by imposing higher tariffs on products that are locally produced with sufficient quantity and quality

The second one is to support local producers import inputs, which could not be found domestically, at low tariffs, said the ministry.