Why rice price will increase

The 2016 budget is currently under review at the National Assembly.

In the document submitted to the appreciation of the Committee on Finance and Budget, 50 articles of the Tax Code and some tariffs were changed in the direction of lower taxes, but also in the reverse aspect.

And in the second case, two major changes were proposed by the government on tariffs. Among these changes is the reintroduction of customs tax at 5% on rice. This will lead to an increase in the price of rice per kilogram on the market.

The government is reacting due to a similar situation which occurred before March 2008, noted Le Quotidien de l’Economie.

According to the newspaper, the government had to reduce rice taxation and other basic commodities following the riots of February 2008. The Minister of Finance ( MINFI), Alamine Ousmane Mey, now think there is a misuse of this facility. As proof, Cameroon imports 800,000 tons of rice, while annual consumption is only half, sources informed.

MINFI indicated that "import surplus is smuggled to Nigeria (from the North, Far North, and Southwest) and CAR (from the east) with small waves, a phenomenon accentuated by the relative dislocation of the consecutive monitor on the border insecurity."

Obviously, the government hopes to fight against smuggling, a defect that plagues the national economy.

The other major change in the project finance is the return of the taxation of imported cement and clinker 20% to 10%.

For MINFI, the tax exemption measure was to strengthen supply in the local market. But with the commissioning of three new cement production plants, which bear the number of operators to four, this flower against imports is no longer appropriate. The government feared "distortion of competition", said Le Quotidien de l’Economie.