(Business in Cameroon) - The downturn in global oil prices on the international market and the security challenges at the borders with the Central African Republic and Nigeria, which are slowing the performance of the tax and customs administrations, did not seem to affect the Treasury Department. Indeed, in the first six months of 2015, the government was able to raise 1.2 trillion FCFA in revenue, surpassing initial forecasts by 100 billion FCFA, according to Ministry of Finance statistics.

“Cameroon has the advantage of being a country with a diversified economy. Although oil is a part of our budget, it represents around 20% of our revenue. This allows us to say that, with 80% of revenue from domestic taxes, Cameroon is able to face external issues,” explained the Cameroonian Finance Minister, Alamine Ousmane Mey (photo), in the margins of the last board meeting of Banque des Etats de l’Afrique centrale (BEAC).

According to government forecasts, Cameroonian oil revenue will decrease this year by around 300 billion FCFA. In order to fill the gap in the State budget, the Finance Ministry announced, at the start of the year, the implementation of a plan to maximise the recovery of tax and customs revenue. This plan is based on the widening of the tax base.

According to recent announcements by the Director General of Taxes, 2,500 taxpayers in 2014, while Cameroon has around 98,000 companies, according to a recent census by the National Institute of Statistics (INS in French).