According to data from banana association Assobacam, Cameroonian banana exporters sold a total of 16,185 tons of fruits in February 2023. Compared to the 16,525 tons sold over the same period last year, this is a decline of 340 tons (-2%). This slight decrease is mainly due to poor performance by market leader Plantations de Haut Penja SA (PHP). The company only shipped 12,919 tons of bananas in February 2023, against 14,209 tons in February 2022 (down 1,290 tons).

Minor market player Boh Plantations also saw a slight decline of 75 tons, from 1,172 tons in February 2022 to 1,097 tons in February 2023. However, CDC achieved a good performance over the period, shipping a total of 2,169 tons; up 47% compared to 1,144 tons in February 2022.

CDC has thus maintained steady progress since January 2023, when its exports increased by 83% YoY. However, there is concern that the recent attack on the company’s employees could end this momentum.

Source: Business in cameroon.com                                           

Three mobile operators in Cameroon, namely MTN, Orange and Camtel have committed to invest CFA156 billion this year to improve the quality of their service and broaden their network coverage. The information was announced in a statement issued last February 13 by Philemon Zoo Zame, the Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ART).

This decision follows pressure from the telecom regulator, which revealed it had already sent no less than 13 formal notices to the country’s four mobile operators (MTN, Orange, Nexttel and Camtel), inviting them to implement corrective measures within a given period.

During a meeting with ART officials on January 31 in Yaoundé, the CEO of Orange Cameroon, Patrick Benon, said his company will invest a total of CFA150 billion over the next five years, starting with CFA30 billion in 2023. It is unclear whether this first disbursement of CFA30 billion by Orange is included in the joint investment with MTN and Camtel.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Cameroon’s Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motazé, is pushing for a plan to anticipate the impact of the end of the IMF-led program. On February 10, 2023, as the new managers of the Autonomous Amortization Fund (CAA) and the National Deposit and Consignment Fund (CDEC) were being installed, the official invited them to find solutions to compensate for the reduction in budget support that will accompany the end of the IMF program.

“(I’m) not sure right now that if the current program, which is scheduled to end in 2024, ends, another one will be negotiated,” the Minister said. “Cameroon will not be indefinitely under programs, we should remember that to manage is to foresee, and it is therefore up to all of us, and to you too, to find resources to replace these budgetary supports, so that Cameroon continues to move forward, and that the financing of our development continues. I am counting on you,” he added.

As a reminder, the 3-year IMF-led program was concluded on July 29, 2021, with the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangements. Under this program, Cameroon will obtain a total of CFA770 billion in aid, according to the Minister of Finance. CFA380 billion will be provided by the IMF, while the rest should come from donors such as the World Bank, the AfDB, the European Union, and France.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Following the government’s announcement on Monday, January 30, that fuel prices will go up come February 2023, Cameroonians across the country rushed to filling stations to top their tanks, causing long lines at the filling stations.

Cameroonians are now faced with a fuel price rise of about 15 percent, meaning a litre of diesel that used to cost them 575 CFA francs (0.87 euros), will now go up to 720 CFA francs (1.09 euros).

The rise came after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had put pressure on the government to cut its fuel subsidy.

But there will be a 5.2 percent salary rise for civil service workers to help soften the blow, the prime minister’s office stated.

“They recognized the need to reduce the costly fuel subsidies, which are unsustainable under the current international oil price projections and are poorly targeted to those in need and crowd out priority spending,” the IMF, referring to the government, said in a news release on Tuesday.

“The fuel subsidies represent six times the budget allocated to agriculture, four times that to health, and over three times that to energy and water. Fuel subsidy reform would need to be accompanied by measures to mitigate the impact on the most vulnerable, including cash transfers,” it added.

In March the IMF is scheduled to give 68.5 million euros in credit to the government.

By Camcordnews and Africa News

The International Monetary Fund and Cameroon have reached a staff-level agreement that will give the country access to around $74.6 million once the Board formally completes the review, the IMF said in a statement on Monday.

The announcement followed an IMF mission to Cameroon earlier this month and virtual meetings to discuss progress made on reforms and policy priorities in the context of the third review of the program, supported by Extended Credit Facility and Extended Fund Facility arrangements.

“The mission has reached staff-level agreement with the Cameroonian authorities on the economic and financial policies that could support the approval of the third review of the program,” IMF mission chief for Cameroon Cemile Sancak said in the statement.

“Conclusion of the third review by the IMF Executive Board scheduled in early March 2023 would enable the disbursement of SDR 55.2 million (about US$74.6 million),” she added.

The central African country’s economy grew at an estimated 3.4% in 2022, up from 3.6% in 2021. It is projected to reach 4.3% growth this year, the statement said.

Headline inflation is expected to reach 6% at the end of 2022, mainly driven by food prices due to higher import costs and domestic supply pressures.

Source: Reuters

A Total facility located in Mamfe the chief town in Manyu Division has been set ablaze by people suspected to be Ambazonia Revolutionary Guards.

The incident occurred late on Monday when Southern Cameroons Self Defense Forces stormed the facility located beside the Mamfe High Court and set it ablaze.  

Cameroon Concord News understands the inferno destroyed all the oil storage tanks and other equipment.

The destruction is yet to attract the attention of the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime that is busy resisting a genuine offer from the Canadian government geared towards achieving peace in English speaking Cameroon.

A prominent Manyu citizen contacted by our undercover reporter in Mamfe expressed regret over the destruction of the facility but said French business interest everywhere in Southern Cameroons should be targeted by Amba fighters.

The Francophone Divisional Officer for Manyu is expected to blame the attack on bunkering activities.

By Kinsley Betek in Mamfe

It has been going on as rumor, but as the government has been reluctant to conduct any prospection in Manyu Division, oil and gas have begun showing up in parts of Mamfe and Besongabang.  

Baku, a small river in Banya quarters of Mamfe town, has begun delivering the secrets which have been hiding for centuries in Manyu’s sub-soil.

All over the town, rivers are bearing oily films and the smell of gas is all over the town of Mamfe. Samples of the oil have already been sent to SONARA for testing and if confirmed, then Manyu Division is sitting on one of Africa’s largest oil reserves. 

The same signs of a massive oil deposit in Manyu have also shown up in Ossing where the BADI river is mimicking what has just been happening in Baku in Mamfe town. It is suspected that Kembong, the division’s second largest town, might be holding massive oil and gas reserves.

The populations of Banya, Besongabang Ntenako, Nchang and Ossing might have to be displaced for the oil to be drilled and if this were to happen, then the government will end up with a massive job on its hands. 

The government of Cameroon has never been transparent with the management of the country’s resources and, Indian Division which accounts for most of the country’s oil deposit, is one of the most underdeveloped areas of the country, with many of the Division’s children not even going to school.

The oil deposits in Manyu Division will have to be managed differently as the fighting in the two English-speaking regions of the country is also based on the government’s poor management of natural resources in the two regions.

Manyu’s sub-soil might just be one of those blessings which might end up as a curse. The fighting that has left the government with a bloodshot eye might intensify in the days ahead if government does not come up with a clear plan on how to engage the Anglophone Diaspora and the Ambazonian fighters who are not in any mood to abandon their objective of obtaining total independence for Southern Cameroons. 

The international community has already been informed about the oil deposits in Mamfe and venture capitalists are already packing their bags to find out if the oil and gas are in commercial quantities.

Manyu’s economic and financial destiny is bound to change with the discovery of these oil and gas deposits. Manyu has many oil and gas experts, and their services will be solicited to ensure the people of this region benefit from their blessing. 

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with correspondent reports

The Cameroonian government, in its 2023 Finance Act, announced it is cutting diamond and gold export duties by 50%. The fees will now be 5% of the FOB value of the ore to be shipped, instead of 10%.

“We have noted that since this exit tax was raised to 10%, spontaneous export declarations have virtually disappeared (although these ores continue to be exported from Cameroon, ed). The few revenues that Customs has been able to collect are the result of seizures from traffickers,” says an authorized source in the Customs Department. This means that, instead of providing more customs revenue to the Treasury, the increase in the export tax on diamonds and gold a few years ago has had the opposite effect in Cameroon. Indeed, mining operators and other buyers have developed informal export channels to avoid paying the tax. The new reduction in the exit tax is a way for the government to encourage the return to formal exports.

Gold and diamonds produced in Cameroon are highly prized by traffickers. According to official statistics, despite the creation of a mechanism to promote formal export channels, notably through Capam and more recently Sonamines, only about 10% of national gold production is sold in formal channels. The rest goes through informal channels, sometimes with the complicity of the producing companies.

The same phenomenon is observed in diamond production and marketing. For example, according to the Kimberley Process National Permanent Secretariat, Cameroon exported 654 carats of diamonds in 2019. However, the actual production was way more than that since a significant volume went through informal ways, the organization said.

As evidence, while 654 carats were exported, the Kimberley Process National Permanent Secretariat reveals that it was able to trace, throughout 2019, a little over 1,595 carats of diamond production.

Source: Business in Cameroon