(Business in Cameroon) - Consumer price levels in nine out of the ten major cities in Cameroon exceeded the Cemac threshold of 3% in January 2024, according to reports by the national stats agency INS. Remarkably, Bamenda, the regional capital of the Northwest, despite facing attacks by separatist militias, recorded an inflation rate of just 3% in January 2024, year-on-year.

Ngaoundéré experienced the highest jump, with an inflation rate reaching 8% in January 2024 compared to the same month in 2023, making it the Cameroonian city with the most significant increase in household consumer prices. Other major cities also reported inflation rates of at least 5% over the same period: Yaoundé (5.1%); Douala (5.4%); Maroua in the Far North (5.5%); Buéa in the Southwest (5.4%); and Ebolowa in the South (5.7%).

Bertoua, the capital of the forest and mining region of the East, showed an annual inflation rate of 7% in January 2024. Meanwhile, Garoua, the regional capital of the North, was the second city after Bamenda where prices were least explosive, recording a rate of 3.3% in January 2024.

However, the INS report highlights a broader issue, noting that "compared with the same month in 2023, the general price level in Cameroon increased by 5.2% in January 2024, primarily due to a 5.4% rise in food prices and a 17.0% increase in transportation costs."