(Business in Cameroon) - In H1-2021, the price indexes fell in Bamenda and Buea, the regional capitals of the North-west and South-west confronted by a separatist crisis since 2016. According to a report recently published by the National Institute for Statistics (INS), as of end-June 2021, the index fell by 1.4 points (from 3.6% at end-June 2020 to 2.2% at end-June 2021) in Buea and by 0.6 points (from 3.3%  to 2.7%) in Bamenda.

The INS does not provide reasons for this deceleration of the inflation in those two capitals but this could be due to the decrease in separatist militant attacks, who are gradually abandoning those two main towns (because of tightened security) for secondary cities.

Bamenda and Buea are not the only two regional capitals that experienced a deceleration of inflationary pressures during the period. The price index also fell in  Bafoussam (from 3.0% to 1.9%), Yaoundé (from 2.3% to 1.6%), Garoua (from 2.5% to 1.9%), and Douala (from 2.3% to 1.9%).

On the other hand, during the period, inflationary pressures rose in Maroua (from 2.7% to 3.1%) and Ngaoundéré (from 2.1% to 2.3%) with Bertoua recording the highest increase (5.6%).  

BRM