(Business in Cameroon) - The Cameroonian government has revised its non-tax revenue projections upward. Service revenues, domain revenues, and social contributions are now expected to be CFA226.2 billion, up CFA10 billion (+4.6% in relative terms).

The decree amending and supplementing some provisions of the 2022 Finance Act revealed that the new forecasts are motivated by the sales of Covid-19 test kits. Cameroon decided on April 8, 2021, to charge CFA30,000 for PCR tests to ensure the sustainability of this activity. An article enshrining this decision was added to the 2022 finance act by the decree submitted to parliament for validation.

Authorities justify this decision by the persistence of Covid-19 in the country and the resulting budget constraints. Acquiring PCR tests has cost the state CFA24 billion between May 2020 and January 2021, at a time when the economy was hard hit by the health crisis. The extra revenues from test sales will help reduce the financial pressure, authorities said.

However, despite this projected increase in non-tax revenues, Cameroon is still below its potential. According to the Ministry of Finance (Minfi), the country should be collecting more, about CFA620 billion on average.

S.A.