(Business in Cameroon) - Faced with strike action brandished by Cameroonian transporters the day after fuel and domestic gas costs went up on July 1, the Cameroonian government has just increased transportation fares and fees. According to a release issued by the Minister of Trade, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, the day taxi fare will now be 250 FCfa instead of the previous 200 FCfa, which is a 25% increase. The night fare has moved from 250 FCfa to 300 FCfa, making that a 20% increase. 

This fare increase in transportation is higher for categories such as “depots” which climb from 1,500 to 2,000 FCfa by day and from 2,000 to 2,500 by night, which is an increase of 25 to 33%. The per-hour rate moves from 2,500 to 3,000 FCfa. The government has, however, left in place the “negotiation” clause between transporters and customers to ensure that there is some flexibility in the standardised pricing. 

Once these new rates were made public, inter-urban transporters also adjusted their fares. A doctor who practices in the West region of Cameroon has stated, for example, that he paid 4,500 FCfa to a well-known travel agency for a trip to Yaoundé last weekend instead of the usual 3,500 FCfa which is an increase of 1,000 FCfa, or 30%. On his return two days later, he indicated that he paid 5,000 FCfa to do the same trip, the fares having been raised in the interim by the heads of the same agency. 

With this transportation price increase, the Cameroonian people are fearing a generalised price increase in the country’s markets as the transportation costs usually impact the entire commercial chain of manufactured products. A generalised price increase which will have the damaging effect of wiping-out any anticipated benefit of the 5% increase in public sector wages, decided the day after the price revision on fuel and domestic gas, officially to maintain the purchasing power of some households.