The Customs and Excise department (Direction Générale des Douanes - DGD) of the Cameroonian Ministry of Finance only succeeded in collecting FCFA 175.7 billion during the first quarter of 2016, we learned from reliable sources.

This performance, though in increase of 4% compared to the same period last year, is however below expectations, the income target posted by DGD for the first quarter being FCFA 187 billion.

The Cameroonian Customs explain this situation by the drop in imports in Cameroon. Indeed, we learned, compared to the same period last year, the imports of goods, particularly those generating income such as vehicles, raw materials for the brewery industry, etc. dropped by approximately 30% during the first quarter 2016.

As a reminder, the customs revenue projections in Cameroon for the budgetary year 2016 are FCFA 750 billion. Quick calculation, this means that the national customs administration still have nine months to raise slightly over FCFA 574 billion.