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Fifth phase postponed
Fifth phase postponed.
According to the working document elaborated in 2016, importers of cars from the European Union were to benefit from a 10 percent drop in customs dues as at August 5, 2020. This, it is worth recalling, concerns goods that fall in the third category of the programme. They had been projected to benefit from the European Union’s Economic Partnership Agreement, EPA, in this fifth phase. But the ravaging Covid-19 has changed the plans. Nations, including Cameroon, have lost huge amounts to the pandemic and have already begun looking for alternative sources of income to fund State projects.
The implementing authority, the Customs Department, says they are yet to get an authorisation from the Ministry of Finance in order to effect the decision. The Ministers of the Economy and Finance have said the delay is attributed to the current novel coronavirus pandemic.
The 2020 Finance Law clearly reflects these new adjustments. The impact is communicated in the new figures presented in the adjusted state budget. Initially, the customs sector was due to feed the state budget with some FCFA 2,962.2billion. The amount was later scaled down to FCFA 2,374.8 billion, reflecting the new realities that have been imposed by the pandemic.
This drop was qualified at 20 per cent. The delay has been received with mixed feelings at various quarters.
Some economy pundits had already raised issues, saying the EPA needed to be more comprehensive, elaborating accompanying measures to help countries recover the loss the net loss in revenue. In 2019, the government reportedly lost some FCFA nine billion as it implemented the earlier phases of the agreement. It projected to lose up to FCFA 14 billion this 2020, if the fifth phase went into effect. In other words, the delay will fetch the nation FCFA 14 billion. Though at the expense of importers of these category of goods.
The Ministry of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development explained that it based its decision on article 31 of the EPA, which makes room for measures to safeguard the economy in cases of multiple shocks. So the delay is in line with laid down principles and not unconstitutional.