As part of the consultation process on the Draft Law establishing the Legal Regime Applicable to Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, the private sector argued today at the Assembly of the Republic’s Committee on Agriculture, the Economy and the Environment (5th Committee) that the Draft Law should be seen as an instrument that brings benefits, rather than penalties, as some of the articles in the proposal illustrate.
Within the scope of local content (contracting of goods and services by large companies), the private sector advocates a greater allocation to SMEs, proposing that the quota be increased to 40%, instead of the minimum 20% that the draft law provides for, since, it justifies, around 98% of the economy is made up of SMEs, and there is therefore every need to boost the economic activity of this segment. In the current version, the legislator favors large companies (2% of the business fabric) by allocating 80% of hiring to them.
As basic issues, the private sector proposes the elimination of personal guarantees and the exclusive prevalence of company guarantees, since in the event of seizure, banks do not segregate assets.
It also proposes that the state coordinate with commercial banks in order to activate existing bank guarantees for these segments.
The reasonableness of fines and double penalties was also analyzed, with the private sector demonstrating situations in which double penalties occur, i.e. the existence of separate sectoral legislation that already provides for fines in the event of non-compliance.
In addition, entrepreneurs advocate that, as part of the proposal to create the Management Fund for the Profitability of SMEs, the private sector should be part of its management committee.
In general, the private sector congratulates the government on the draft law, but hopes that the comments submitted to the House will be reflected in the final document to be approved.
It should be noted that the CTA was represented at this hearing by its members, namely APME – the Association of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, and ACIM – the Maputo Commercial and Industrial Association.
