(Business in Cameroon) - Every year, Cameroon Real Estate Corporation (SIC) loses money because it fails to add VAT taxes to the rent collected from clients. This is the conclusion reached by the Technical Commission for the Rehabilitation of Public and Para public Sector Enterprises (CTR) in its report on the performance of state and parastatal firms as of December 31, 2020.
According to the report, SIC pays over XAF500 million in VAT every year for its clients. This “represents additional expenses and consequently affects the company's performance," writes the CTR. In 2020, for instance, although the corporation’s net result was positive, it was down by 81.74% year-on-year to XAF127,982,853 FCFA.
In addition, the SIC’s receivables rose by 22.4% year on year. At the same time, the debt the State of Cameroon was owing the company has grown by over XAF2.3 billion because of delays in the payment of administrative rents.
An operation to sell over XAF30 billion of debts the State of Cameroon owes the SIC is underway, we learn. This operation will provide the resources necessary for the corporation's development projects.
As of December 31, 2020, SIC's housing stock consisted of 5,334 housing units, compared with 5,329 units in 2019. It was composed of 5,301 rental units, 30 units for SIC office use, and 03 units for lease-purchase agreement.
In 2020, the SIC generated private rental revenues estimated at XAF2,571,400,928, representing 80.1% of the over XAF3.210 billion it should have collected. It also generated XAF269.580 million from house sales, the CTR adds.
S.A.