(Business in Cameroon) - Despite the coronavirus pandemic that decelerated economic activities in CEMAC countries (from mid-March 2020) and caused confinement in the said countries’ main commercial partners, budget revenues were up in Q2-2020.

According to the Bank of Central African States (BEAC), the budget revenues of CEMAC countries grew from about XAF2,000 billion to 2,880 billion between Q1 and Q2, 2020. This represents a close to XAF900 billion quarter-to-quarter rise. However, “on a year-to-year basis, the budget revenues were down by  about 10% for the whole CEMAC region,” the BEAC adds in a recent note on economic activities in the sub-region.

One of the member countries that contributed the most in the mobilization of budget revenues in Q2,2020 was Cameroon. During the reference period, the country’s budget revenue was 116.1% on target. This is mainly due to the increase in domestic revenues, and a 105.2% and 137.9% implementation rate in targeted loans and grants respectively because donors facilitated disbursements to help the country deal with the health crisis.

The central bank of the CEMAC region explains that the resilience of budget revenues, despite the coronavirus pandemic, is due to a rise in the price of an oil barrel from $26 at end-March to $41 at end-June 2020. This appreciation of oil prices mitigated the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on budget revenues in the sub-region, the BEAC explains.

BRM