‘BANK LEVY WILL NOT BE PASSED ONTO BUSINESSES’

EZULWINI – The proposed levy on banks’ gross revenue will not increase the cost of doing business.

Central Bank of Swaziland (CBS) Governor Majozi Sithole has assured the business community and all customers of banking institutions that the levy will not be passed on to them.

He said a committee had already been set up to collate a feasible strategy to ensure that end users do not find themselves forced to fork out more money for banking services to cater for the levy.

He said they were already engaging government to comprehend how the levy would be operationalised.
“As CBS, we want to minimise a situation where the cost (of the levy) would be passed on to the consumer,” Sithole promised in his 2018 Monetary Policy Statement address at Happy Valley yesterday.  

Deputy Chairman of the Swaziland Bankers Association (SBA) Zakhele Lukhele said it remained unclear how the proposed policy change would be applied.
He said once they had been advised how the levy would be imposed; they would be better positioned to align themselves on how they would cushion their customers.

“We also want to avoid a situation where the cost of the levy filters onto consumers especially businesses,” said Lukhele who is Managing Director of SwaziBank.
SBA Chairman Dennis Mbingo’s is on record having said challenging banks to contribute to the fiscus through the levy implied that they do not at present.

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