Cameroon economy suffers slight decline in 2015 Q1 – Report

Economic activity (EA) in Cameroon has witnessed about 1.1 percent decline in the first quarter of 2015, compared to the last three months of 2014 (4.5 percent increase), a National Institute of Statistics (INS) report revealed Thursday.

The slump is attributed to the decrease in the tertiary (less 0.8 percent after a 4.9 percent increase), and secondary activities (less 1.9 percent after a 4.4 percent increase).

The secondary sector has been weighed down by building and public works activity which offset the good performance of the primary sector (less 1.9 percent after a 1.7 percent increase).

Compared to the same quarter in 2014, this year’s EA increased by 5.1 percent, due to an overall improvement in secondary (+7.3 percent), primary (+6.1 percent) and tertiary sectors (+ 4.7 percent).

In the same vein, the Nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by +6.7 percent in Q1 2015, while the GDP deflator rose by 1.8 percent.

The report comes as the study period was also marked by a 2.8 percent increase m-o-m in the final consumption of households, against 1.3 percent a year earlier, a trend mainly attributable to the soaring cost of transport (11.0 percent) and restaurants and hotel services (4.2 percent).

The reason is not only the upward revision of fuel pump prices on 1 July 2014, but also the entry into force of alcoholic beverages taxes which beer companies have passed on to retail prices.