(Business in Cameroon) - On June 30, 2014, the Ministry of Finance’s Directorate General of Taxes collected a total of 737 billion FCFA instead of the 657 billion FCFA initially expected. This is 80 billion FCFA more than expected. Relative to 2013, this performance marks an increase of over 135 billion FCFA as only 602 billion FCFA were collected for the same period the previous year.

Halfway through the budgetary year, earnings received have shown a 50% surplus relative to the total of 1.24 trillion FCFA expected by year’s end. The amount is such that the Tax Directorate is already stating that it will meet budget targets for the end of the year despite recent tax reductions after price and fuel increases were implemented. 

The tax most affected by these recent measures implemented by the Head of State is the special tax on oil products, from which official earnings for the second half of 2014 are estimated to be 15 billion FCFA. This is a very stoppable gap for the tax administration, according to tax officials from the Directorate.