IT is anticipated that 6,000 live goats, other small ruminants, and pigs will be imported over the next three years as the Government temporarily suspends the General Consumption Tax (GCT) normally paid on these imports in a bid to revitalise the sector and ensure an adequate supply of animal protein.

This was disclosed by Minister of Finance and the Public Service Dr Nigel Clarke on Wednesday as he piloted a motion in the House of Representatives to amend the GCT schedule in the GCT Act to allow for this and other changes to the tax regime impacting other sectors.

He said the idea behind this initiative is to diversify the supply of proteins in the country, and shore up the breeding stock of goats.

“The challenge that we have is that the supply of breeding stock of goats has been depleted and so we’re not in a self-sufficient position to be producing our own goats and growing stock over time, and a big hindrance to that is that there is GCT applied when you import the goat.

“So we have a system where we need goats to make our economy more resilient, but it is not cost-effective to import new stock of goats because of the price that we’re going to put on it. So we are making a provision and it does not have to be a permanent one, but certainly one designed to restock the breeding stock of goats in the country,” he said.

Dr Clarke advised that the provision will have a “sunset” in five years, stressing that the idea is not to put local herders at a disadvantage once the stock gets up to a certain level.

“So I say to all persons in the goat rearing, pig rearing, and small ruminants industry to use the five years efficiently to restock your farms because when the sunset provision is up, those who have used it wisely will be as an advance,” he said.

Following his announcement Opposition spokesperson on water and agriculture Lothian Cousins asked about the risks of importing these animals and the impact it can have on the local industry.

He asked if any consideration was given to farmers possibly using the measure as a loophole to just buy the goats cheaper overseas, bring them with no GCT then pass them on to the consumers. He also questioned the need for the importation of pigs when many times farmers have to be culling because they are unable to find affordable feed.

“So we have to be careful in terms of how we roll out programmes like these because it might sound good on paper, but in reality it might very well hurt the industry,” he said.

The minister responded to say that risk is a part of life “and there is no doubt that there is a risk with every measure or step that we take, but we have to be courageous to do what is right by the industry and work to minimise the risks, but the point that you make is a good point and it’s the reason why we are establishing a five-year period for this, and when five years come, and the GCT goes back up on pigs and goats and ruminants, I hope I’ll have your support,” he said.

Clarke said the measure is temporary as the Government would not want persons who have invested in producing animal meat in the country to experience unfair competition from abroad.

He reiterated that the purpose of this initiative is to restock the supply and it comes at the request of the farmers themselves.

“So this is not something that the Government is doing in isolation. The farmers in these specific sectors – goats and pigs and small ruminants – are requesting this provision because of the dire state of the breeding stock,” he said.

The General Consumption Tax Amendment of Schedule Order 2023 and its resolution, which was later approved by legislators, also eliminates GCT on the importation of live horses and implements GCT on the second sale of motor vehicles.

It makes effective the revenue measures that were introduced by Dr Clarke in his budget presentation earlier this year.