By Staff Reporter
WINDHOEK
Cabinet during its last sitting in May approved the implementation of an air ticket levy based on air passenger levy on regional and international flights.
The Ministry of Works and Transport was instructed to amend the Namibia Airports Company Act to accommodate the collection of the levy. Cabinet also authorised the Ministry of Finance to administer the levy proceeds for development projects as determined by Cabinet.
Namibia is a signatory to the UN Declaration on Innovative Sources of Financing for Development and also a member of the leading group on solidarity levies. The membership comes with the obligation of finding innovative mechanisms for raising supplementary funding for development.
In 2006, the Government started consultations to identify possible sources for innovative financing in the country. A workshop on solidarity levies was held in August 2007 and several government institutions, state owned enterprises, foreign embassies, international organisations and the Federation of Namibian Association attended. During the event, the French Embassy shared their country’s experience on its air ticket levy. Besides France, seven countries, namely Chile, Gabon, Cote d’Ivoire, Niger, Madagascar, Mauritius and Korea have a similar air ticket levies.
Based on the 2007 workshop and work done by a technical committee, it was proposed that an air ticket levy be imposed on passengers travelling by air on scheduled and chartered flights to and from Namibia. The levy that the Airports Company should collect would apply to all regional and international flights.