Dwindling state coffers have pushed Zimbabwe finance minister Patrick Chinamasa to introduce a new 25% duty tax on cellphone imports.

Zimbabwe already has a 5 cents levy on mobile money and Point of Sale transactions.

Chinamasa said the government had introduced new tax measures such as a levies on airtime and import duties on mobile handsets to grow the state's revenue base.

"Government faces challenges in raising funding. I propose to levy excise duty of 5% on airtime for voice and data," said Chinamasa in his mid-term fiscal policy review statement on Thursday.

He said that in recognition of the importance of access to information and the role it plays in developing the ICT sector, the government had set aside import duty on mobile handsets in the past few years.

However, with Zimbabwe having attained over 100% in mobile penetration, Chinamasa said the government was re-introducing the import duty on cellphones.

"Handset purchases have increased (and) ... I am proposing customs duty on mobile handsets at 25% with effect from October 1 2014," he said.