Customs generates 486.4 BFCFA revenue in six months.

The figures were revealed in a note released by the Customs Communication Service, on its performance in the first half of 2023.

According to the performance note, the Customs Department mobilised 486.4 billion FCFA as budgetary tax revenue by the end of the month of June. 

The amount recorded is well above the initial target of 470.4 billion FCFA, representing an achievement rate of 103.4%. 

Meanwhile, the revenue mobilised is said to be up by 19.3% in relative terms and 78.6 billion FCFA in absolute terms, compared with the 407.8 billion FCFA raised in the first half of 2022. 

During the 2023 first semester, the Customs Administration also raised 108.9 billion FCFA in off-budget revenue, of which 37.4 billion FCFA has been sent to local authorities, 27.1 billion FCFA to pipeline transit duties and 15.3 billion FCFA to community organisations. 

The 486.4 billion FCFA in budget revenue collected by the Customs Department, coupled with the 108.9 billion FCFA in non-budget revenue, give a total of 614.6 billion FCFA.

It is worth noting that the good qualitative performance of litigation, with a yield per case of 3.1 million FCFA in the first half of 2023, was recorded, compared to 2.8 million FCFA in the first half of 2022, giving an increase of 12.2%. 

In addition, fines collected amounted to 8 billion FCFA, compared to 7.3 billion FCFA in the first half of 2022, also making an increase of almost 10%.

It should be recalled that these figures were registered amidst a hostile context marked by a slowdown in the volume growth of world trade, the continued dismantling of tariffs following international trade agreements between Cameroon and the European Union as well as the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA.

This has been compounded by the implementation of measures to combat inflation like subsidies for petroleum products and exemptions from fiscal and customs taxes.