(Business in Cameroon) - According to the Managing Director of Cameroon Customs, Minette Libom Likeng (photo), the average customs’ exemptions per month to businesses in Cameroon has been approximately 15 billion FCfa since the start of 2014, which is “28% of net collections” she explained in an interview with the government’s daily publication.

“We find that it remains quite high. We are hoping that the committee in charge of exemption rationalisation put in place by the Ministry of Finance will help to significantly reduce these losses,” indicated Ms. Libom Likeng. She finds that many exemptions not only “put the notion of free competition to the test among companies,” but lead to an overall reduction in State revenue.

According to customs’ management, in 2013, for example, the losses resulting from these customs duties exemptions averaged “32% of monthly collections”, which was 15.9 billion FCfa. This figure later climbed to 190 billion FCfa by the end of that period.