LCCI champions one-year tax break for manufacturers, healthcare firms

Entrepreneurs in Nigeria are requesting a year tax relief to succour businesses crippled by the coronavirus outbreak, and postponement of execution of the new Value Added Tax regime until the latter part of 2020.

In a COVID-19 impact report survey released by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Sunday, they solicited the incentives for Small and Medium Enterprises, manufacturers, airlines, healthcare and pharmaceutical companies, the hospitality sector and agro-processors.

“Recognising the role of business and investment in the economy, it is imperative to have a strategy aimed at enabling businesses to navigate through the current storm caused by the pandemic and jumpstarting the economy in general,” the report read in part.

Muda Yusuf, the LCCI boss affirmed that the survey aimed at taking stock of the sweeping ramifications of the lockdown on trade by using Lagos as a case study, considering its “commercial and economic importance to Nigeria.”

Read also: COVID-19: Nigerian govt reveals plans to set up palliatives for MSMEs

The report observed the views of business owners across industries, comprising financial services, ICT, agriculture, trade, professional services, exports, food processing as well as freight forwarding.

81 per cent of the businesses sampled said they were adversely affected by the lockdown. 17 per cent noted a moderate impact of the situation on their businesses.

Businesses in the services sector, severely hampered by the lockdown owing to falling patronage of services by clients, came to 50 per cent.

Clients spent more on food and essentials more than ‘relatively less important’ services while corporate clients ran partial operations, which scaled down demand for non-essential services, the report said.

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