#TheConsequencesOfInformalisation
#AuthoritiesHoistByTheirOwnPetard
Government is cracking down on the burgeoning commodities black market in a desperate bid to raise more tax revenues and protect big supermarkets threatened by informal market shops when it created the problem in the first place by collapsing the mainstream formal economy.
Informalisation, which is a shift of economic activities from the formal, regulated and tax-paying sector to unregulated and untaxed informal activities, 
is not monitored or taxed by the government.
It is a symptom of structural challenges like economic distortions, high unemployment and macroeconomic instability.
Yet it has also now become a defining feature of Zimbabwe’s economy.
By 2024, the informal sector accounted for approximately 60% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and employed over 76% of its workforce, according to the African Development Bank.
Although the sector alleviates poverty, promotes self-reliance and contributes to economic growth, it also threatens long-term economic growth and fiscal stability, makes it difficult to ensure organised work and erodes the government revenue base.
Research shows informalisation cost Zimbabwe at least US$1.2 billion in potential revenue between 2020 and 2023.
Informalisation threatens established businesses, particularly supermarkets.
As formal businesses face high operating costs, uncompetitive exchange rates, and regulatory hurdles, many have opted to downsize or close entirely, leaving informal enterprises as the dominant players in the economy.
In a notice yesterday, the cash-strapped government said:
"IT is hereby notified that the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion has, in terms of section 235, as read with section 8 of section 223A of the Customs and Excise Act [Chapter 23.02], made the following regulations:—
1. (1) These regulations may be cited as the Customs and Excise (Designated Deemed Smuggled Goods) Regulations, 2025.
(2) These regulations shall be deemed to take effect from the 28th November, 2024.
2. Subject to section 3, the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion hereby designates the goods of a commercial nature listed in the Schedule below for the purpose of section 223A of the Act. 
3. Every manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer or individual who is found in possession of the designated goods, and fails to furnish to the Commissioner or any officer or person authorised by the commissioner, authentic documentary evidence that duty has been properly accounted for in terms of this Act, shall be deemed to have smuggled the goods and liable to payment of the duty thereof, including applicable penalties. 
4. For the avoidance of doubt, no customer shall be required to produce proof of payment of duty on imported goods purchased from a local manufacturer, wholesaler or retailer. It shall be the responsibility of the person who would have imported the goods or the manufacturer (in the case of such imported goods used as inputs into production), wholesaler or retailer of such imported goods to provide satisfactory documentary evidence to the extent that the goods have been properly imported."
It produced a long list of goods that are targeted for tax checks and seizures.