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

Cameroon’s second largest employer, the state-run Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), is calling for thousands of plantation workers who fled the country’s separatist conflict to return to work. About half the company’s 20,000 workers left more than four years ago over unpaid wages and after deadly and brutal attacks. The company last week said it was safe to return, but workers are skeptical and say it should first rebuild homes destroyed or damaged in the conflict.

The CDC said it wants thousands of workers back at banana, palm oil, and rubber plantations in the restive Southwest region. Managers of the state-run giant on Monday visited towns and villages in the region to meet with workers who fled unrest in 2018 and ask them to return.

Cameroon Agricultural and Allied Workers Trade Union President Gabriel Mbene Vefonge, who was part of the delegation, said the corporation has promised to pay back wages to those workers who return.

“Most of them are doing mean (menial) jobs in many areas of this country, so we are calling them to come back,” he said. “Their security is being guaranteed by the state and we have seen in the last six months there is relative calm. For those who had wounds, we think that their wounds are healed, and the CDC management is taking care of them. Our members should come back to work.”

Cameroon’s military says it has chased the rebels from the plantations, which armed groups used for training camps.

In 2018, the rebels ordered workers to leave the plantations and warned that those who refused would be attacked.

Authorities say the armed groups chopped off fingers of scores of workers suspected of collaborating with the government and torched hundreds of homes, schools, and factories.

William Lekunja, a worker at a plantation in Meanja, said he escaped in 2018. He said he will only return if the company improves work and living conditions in villages damaged in the conflict.

“They cannot eat well because what they have is too meager,” he said. “Others who have gone there came back with testimonies. Their hospitals bills are paid by themselves, there is no good housing for them, no good water for them.”

Cameroon’s government says some of the company’s former workers are owed more than two years’ back pay. The company has vowed to pay back wages but says the conflict and exodus of workers led to a massive drop in production and sales.

The government says sales and revenue increased after about 2,000 workers returned in 2021 and 2022.

CDC general manager Franklin Ngoni Njie said if the remaining 8,000 workers return, the company’s sales will return to previous levels.

He said they would then be able to afford paying back salaries and reconstructing destroyed buildings.

“The solution is getting back to work,” he said. “Working and making money, money to help pay wages. To pay those who are working, just salaries alone, costs the corporation about 900 million francs. It is difficult to get that amount of money, but that notwithstanding, we will try to do what must be done to continue to operate.”

Cameroon’s separatist conflict was sparked in 2016 when predominantly English-speaking western regions protested discrimination by the country’s French-speaking majority.

Cameroon’s military responded with a crackdown and rebels took up arms claiming to defend the English-speaking minority.

The U.N. says the conflict has since left 3,500 people dead and 750,000 displaced.

Source: VOA

The Ghanaian government has announced it can no longer honor its payment of external debts to creditors.  Bondholders were shocked when the government announced it can no longer pay about 13 billion Euros in debt to its creditors.

The announcement was made by the country’s Finance ministry on Monday December 19, 2022.

Ghanaian Government says it’s a short term move intended to carry out IMF lead structural reforms but former Ghanaian President disagreed tweeting   “Tragic! Ghana officially bankrupt”

Ghana was misled by France to lead an economy embargo against Mali’s military government when they chased the French away. Ghanaian government stopped all trade with Bamako and ended ties. The move prompted Burkina Faso government to recalled its ambassador from Accra further straining Ghana’s fragile economy

Ghanian government also led a West African campaign to oust Russia from the region, dismantling ties with Moscow on the behest of US and France.

Source: Freelancer

Investors from the United Arab Emirate and Cameroon gathered on Thursday in Dubai to explore ways of strengthening business relations, investment opportunities and discussing prospects on signing mutually-beneficial partnership agreements.

During the ‘Cameroon Investment Week’ Investment Forum, which took place at Jafza 1 Convention Center, Jebel Ali Free Zone, the two countries delve into viable business and investment opportunities.

To foster discussions, the event assembled major high-profile stakeholders including; Technical Advisor for Economic Affairs at the Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon:  Jean Claude AYEM MOGER;  Abdulla Al Saleh, Under Secretary of the Foreign Trade and Industry at the UAE Ministry of Economy; Iya Tidjan, Ambassador to the Cameroon Embassy in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; and the General Manager of the Investment Promotion Agency Cameroon Mrs. Marthe Angéline MINJA.

The event was also be attended by several top CEOs, managers of local governmental and private economic entities as well as representatives of the Cameroonian business community.Abdulla Al Saleh said,” The volume of non-oil trade between the UAE and Cameroon reached $406 million in the first nine month of 2020 with a over 5 per cent increase compared to the same period of 2021.”

He added,” This forum is a perfect platform to explore the new avenues of cooperation between the two countries.”

The Investment Forum featured an interesting panel discussion about Cameroon’s Business environment and investment opportunities in strategic sectors like oil, port, aeronautics, electricity & decentralization.

During the event, institutions from the UAE and Cameroon signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to create an attractive environment for UAE companies willing to invest in Cameroon, encourage the exchange of trade missions, and facilitate information exchange between the parties. The Mou’s were signed between:

Investment Promotion Agency Cameroon & UAE International Investors Council,    Investment Promotion Agency Cameroon & UAE Trade Centre,    United Councils & Cities Cameroon & UAE Trade Centre, Miller & Associates and UAE Trade Center and Investment Promotion Agency Cameroon & XFusion.

Mrs.  Marthe Angeline MINJA, General Manager of Investment Promotion Agency Cameroon, on this occasion said: “Cameroon, Africa in miniature, is not coming empty-handed to this give-and-take forum. Indeed, it has abundant assets, hence its attractiveness”

Walid Hareb AlFalahi, CEO of Dubai Consultancy & UAE Trade Center, expressed: “Cameroon is an emerging and ambitious economy, and it is evident that there is considerable scope to extend bilateral trade between UAE and Cameroon which would enable investment flows into priority sectors such as renewable energy, technology and logistics. UTC has been playing a key role in driving investment into key sectors in Africa and we are looking forward to play a key role in driving investment into Cameroon and further strengthen the relationship between UAE and Cameroon.”

The focus of this gathering was Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) attraction which are generally characterized by huge investment projects, high rate of job creation, a significant contribution to infrastructural development and transfer of technology, as well as their support to adding value to local resources. Thus, this event became a platform to ensure the attraction of sustainable FDIs in a bid to fast-track the achievement of Cameroon’s development goals.

In its 2022 investment report, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) ranked the UAE as 17th country globally and first Arab country in the world in terms of FDI outflows that totaled $22.5 billion USD in 2021, reflecting a 19% growth compared to their 2020 records which clearly underlines the growing interest among UAE entities in investing in foreign markets and the positive effects that these entities experience from outward FDI.  According to a 2021 report and survey commissioned by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce, sectors including fintech, agriculture, health tech and e-commerce display great potential in African markets, provided companies can access the necessary investments to address challenges such as weak digital infrastructure, limited public amenities and unfamiliar regulations. The same survey from Dubai Chamber found that among business leaders in Africa, fintech is expected to see the most growth in 2022 — of up to 89 per cent, followed by agriculture and food processing, by 89 and 87 per cent, respectively. These figures indicate Africa’s position as an attractive investment destination with the potential to generate higher returns on investment in the long term.

The Investment Forum therefore form a part of undertakings to ensure continuity of the UAE-Cameroon business relationship.

Source: Gulf Today

In the six countries of the Economic Community of Central Africa (Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Chad, CAR and Equatorial Guinea), the BEAC (Bank of Central African States) has put into circulation new banknotes from December 15.

On posters and banners announcing these new banknotes, the BEAC emphasizes that these are “more compact, more modern and better secured” banknotes that it has put into circulation.

“For the production of these bills, BEAC has used technology that puts it one step ahead of counterfeiters. These bills have modern security features that are difficult to forge,” Emmanuel Asafor Sho, BEAC’s deputy national director for Cameroon, told the agency on Thursday.

“It is a technology that has significantly improved the quality of cash circulation by gradually replacing the bills of the 2002 range, most often worn, by new bills of the 2020 range,” he added stressing that “to ensure the authenticity of a bill, it is sufficient to apply the method “TRI”, a simple, fast and effective method that combines three gestures: Touch, Look, Tilt.

This new range comes after the 2002 range, 20 years later. According to the Bank of Central African States, these new bills were put into circulation on December 15 in accordance with the decision taken on November 7 in Douala by the Ministerial Committee of the Central African Monetary Union (UMAC).

The BEAC had stressed in a press release last November that despite the introduction of new banknotes of the 2020 range, the 2002 range of banknotes continues to be in force in the Economic Community of Central Africa (Cemac).

Source: Africa News

A cross-border energy cooperation deal between Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, which has been stalled for several years, is now set to go ahead and should boost Yaoundé and Malabo gas operations, Africa Intelligence reported.

Africa Intelligence also added that the deal would also benefit Marathon Oil and its Bioko liquefaction plant as well as Chevron, which operates in both countries.

However, the signing is coming at a time when Equatorial Guinea recently deported several hundred Cameroonians, some of whom say they were fleeing terrorist and rebel attacks at home.

The oil-rich country has a history of always targeting Cameroonian migrants who render services such as mechanics, electricians, and bricklayers including miners.

Innocent Cameroonian citizens have over the years been victims of what many political commentators have painted as Biya regime’s lack of interest in the plight of its citizens outside the country.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Cameroon’s parliament on Monday approved a budget of 6,345.1 billion xaf (about 10 billion U.S. dollars) for the 2023 financial year, representing an increase of 4.4 percent compared to the previous financial year.

Edgard Ndongo Eteme, General Rapporteur of the Committee on Finance and the Budget, while presenting the budget said the money will be used to implement the country’s development plan, support national security and health system and rehabilitate displaced citizens.

“The new budget also seeks to create jobs, boost exports and economic stabilization measures and mobilize revenue,” said Louis Paul Motaze, Minister of Finance who defended the budget on behalf of the government.

Cameroon projects an economic growth rate of 4.2 percent in 2023 compared to a forecasted growth of 3.7 percent in 2022, said Motaze.

Source:  Xinhua News Agency

Cameroon lost about 44 billion xaf (about 67 million US dollars) to corruption last year, according to statistics released Thursday by the Cameroon Anti-Corruption Commission (CONAC).

The amount represented an increase of over 26 billion xaf compared to 2020, the report said, adding that police and local government officials were among the worst offenders, with health, education, finance, road transport, and territorial administration sectors being the most corrupt.

“Efforts have been made so far to fight this vice, but we need to step up our strategies. It is true that people are becoming aware of their responsibility in connection with fighting corruption and checking the management of public funds but officials also need to make some more efforts,” CONAC President Dieudonne Massi Gams told reporters in the capital, Yaounde during a media briefing on the report.

CONAC, established in 2006, is a public independent body under the direct supervision of the head of state. Its mission is to monitor and evaluate the effective implementation of the government’s anti-corruption program.

Source: Xinhuanet