DR Congo cancels 14 customs levies in bid to smooth trade
Congolese workers stand beside bags of a mixture of cobalt and copper at the STL processing plant in Katanga, Lubumbashi on December 1, 2011. PHOTO | AFP
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Trade ministry has ordered the cancellation of 14 levies on exports and imports and the reduction of 20 more duties at the borders in a bid to make trading more smooth and stamp out “illegal” taxes.
Africa’s biggest copper producer and the world’s biggest cobalt producer, Congo has battled with lengthy queues of trucks carrying metal at its borders, which mining companies blame on poor infrastructure and inefficient customs systems.
