18 October 2010 | Nick Martindale

Zimbabwe’s decision to ban the import of vehicles more than five years old is set to push up prices in the country.

The government move is expected to increase prices for business buyers of secondhand and new model vehicles, and to have an inflationary effect.

Jadius Goto, a service manager at new vehicle sales company Nissan Group, estimates the price of secondhand vehicles could increase by 50 per cent and new ones by 10 per cent.

He said: “This will result in shortages of these particular vehicles. With shortage comes price increases. Those with delivery trucks will charge more – customers will want to recover that increased cost and will increase the price of the goods that they carry.”

Organisations that have previously relied on secondhand vehicles as company cars or delivery vehicles could now choose to make other arrangements. “Some buyers will resort to hiring public transport for passengers,” said Goto.

Nyasha Chizu, CIPS branch chair for Zimbabwe, said many organisations relied on secondhand cars because bank finance was unavailable for more than six months.

Zimbabwe’s deputy prime minister, Arthur Mutambara, recently suggested the government could review the ban, which is expected to come into effect next March.