Zambia Chamber of Mines president Goodwill Mateyo has commended government for realizing the devastating effects of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) had it been implemented.

Last Friday, Finance Minister Dr Bwalya Ng’andu announced that government had decided to withdraw the Sales Tax after complaints by various stakeholders against the tax.

He made the announcement during his maiden presentation of the 2020 national budget.

Reacting to the development in an interview after government’s withdrawal of the Sales Tax, Mateyo said the move will avert any impending jobs crisis that could have been experienced in the mining sector.

“It’s a commendable decision that the government has finally seen the possible devastating effects for that (Sales) tax. If the Sales Tax had been implemented, it would have been devastating. What this has done has averted the crisis,” said Mateyo.

The Chamber had consistently warned that over 20,000 indirect jobs in the mining sector would be lost if government insisted on implementing the Sales Tax.