BaretaNews on 5th August 2016 revealed that the Economic Partnership Agreement signed between the EU and the Government of Cameroun went into effect on August 4th, 2016. We revealed that according to the accord 80 percent of EU goods will get into Cameroon duty-free. Some 1760 lists of EU goods were already shortlisted to begin entering the Cameroonian market free of charge amongst which includes tractors, sewing machines, cars, farm tools and other goods. In return, Cameroon will continue to ship cotton, rubber, banana, coffee, cocoa into EU market.
However, this information did not go down well with the Cameroonian public especially consumer groups. Some Cameroonian Economist who were opposed to the deal says Cameroon will lose huge sums of customs revenue as Cameroon sends very little to the EU market. Other observers say making a trade deal with a 28-bloc of nations against Cameroon is unfair to the country. This deal questions Cameroons commitment to the regional CEMAC zone though Minister Paul Motaze, Cameroon’s Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Development tried to allay such fears. Critics still say, the EPA deal with Cameroon posed Cameroon as a threat to the regional integration in the CEMAC Zone
The fears postulated by the Cameroonians and these groups are being seen already. In just a month since the EPA agreement went into effect, Cameroon state has lost 51.485.000 CFA as customs revenues losses. This information was made known on Thursday, September 8th by the Committee responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU). The committee further stated that the losses are strongly fluctuating depending on the volumes and customs rights in question. It is expected that if Cameroon could lose such an amount in just a month, then the amount lost by the state would be astronomical in the days ahead.
The committee also revealed that 59 importers have already benefited from the EPA such as Total Cameroon, Cement Cameroon, the Cameroon Sugar Company etc.
In 2018, we are told another category of European goods will be added to the 1760 list of exemptions and a third from 2021.
God is still saying something.
