Malawi’s government has abolished the 16.5 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) on Internet services introduced by the late President Bingu wa Mutharika last year.
Malawi Finance Minister Dr. Ken Lipenga made the declaration while tabling the 2012/2013 national budget.
Dr. Lipenga explained that the move was to allow Malawians access information at affordable prices.
The VAT removal affects newspapers and Internet servies, and most Malawians expect the cost of internet services to go down.
“At the moment we charge K5 per minute when customers come here to browse on the Internet and we might remove K2 or K1 because although the tax has been removed, other costs remain the same,” said Alfred Phiri, an Internet bureau owner in Chilomoni Township.
The media fraternity, led by Malawi chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Malawi), welcomed the government’s move saying that it was a proof that President Joyce Banda’s administration was serious about supporting the growth if the media industry in the country.
“Access to information is a right in a democratic Malawi and by imposing VAT on newspapers and Internet, the previous administration was simply pushing news beyond the reach of the majority of Malawians,” CEO and Editor-in-Chief of the Nation Publications Limited (NPL), Alfred Ntonga, said.
The move by President Mutharika to tax everything including newspapers and Internet has been heavily criticised with Malawi’s media fraternity viewing it as “wrong.”
The late President Mutharika last year implemented a zero deficit budget that necessitated taxing nearly everything.
