(Business in Cameroon) - According to the Hydrocarbons Price Stabilisation Fund (CSPH), the national consumption of domestic gas increased by 9% for all of 2013 and the first quarter of 2014. This was revealed in a release issued by the June 25, 2014 board meeting of the oil product market regulator.

This growth in consumption led to a government subsidy worth 33.3 billion FCfa for Cameroonian households. According to the CSPH, at the end of 2013, the subsidy was estimated at 20 billion FCfa. Mathematically, therefore, it grew by an additional 13 billion FCfa for the first quarter of 2014 alone.

The CSPH affirms that this situation provoked “the dwindling of cash-flow” for the company as the amount of this subsidy, on its own, amounts to “75.67% of the [CSPH’s] ordinary activity charges” for the period considered.

In removing these oil product subsidies, the Cameroonian government increased the per cylinder price of domestic gas, starting from July 1. The government decision moves the price of a 12.5 kg cylinder of natural gas from 6,000 to 6,500 FCfa. The last domestic gas price increase in Cameroon was in 2006.