The Ministry of Trade, Industries and Cooperatives has kick started discussions to see how both tenants and the property owners can share losses caused by the COVID-19 lockdown so that both parties can remain in business without either party struggling to stay afloat.
The plan was revealed by David Bahati, State Minister of Industries while appearing before Parliament’s Trade and Tourism Committee that is investigating impact of Covid19 in the trade sector.
Minister Bahati told the Committee that Government reached this decision to ensure there can be a win -win situation because the property owners got loans to put up the buildings and also the tenants got loans to set up the business which are carried out in those building but all of them have failed to pay the loans in the right time just because of the covid19 lockdown.
The minister further noted that the discussions are intended to find out if they can have the tax regime which can accept the losses to be allowed under the current regime.
He also appealed to the landlords to be lenient to the tenants during this difficult time of COVID-19.
“One of them is to see whether we can have a tax regime that can accept losses to be allowable under the current regime. But it is matter that we continue discussing, we appeal to landlords to continue to be lenient to the tenants as we go through these tough times,” Bahati said.
He also noted that they have asked Bank of Uganda to have a restructuring of the bank loans and tax incentives and that by the end of this month, they will come up with the final decision on how they are going to handle the matter or the problems brought in the trade sector by COVID-19 lockdown.
“We have asked Bank of Uganda to have a restructuring of this, but also the tax incentives, remember waivers of Pay as You Earn are running up to September, we think by the end of the month, we should have come up with a clear position,” said Bahati.
While appearing before the Trade Committee, Minister of Finance, Matia Kasaija revealed that during the first lockdown, tax revenue from the accommodation and food sector declined by 7%.
