- (Business in Cameroon) – Fiscal benefits under the EU-Cameroon EPA reached CFA70 billion in 2023
- 50 firms, or under 5% of beneficiaries, took nearly 75% of total tax gains
- Large industrial and commercial firms dominate the advantage over SMEs
Fiscal incentives granted to Cameroonian companies under the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU) reached about CFA70 billion as of December 31, 2023, according to the Competitiveness Committee of the Ministry of Economy. Of the 1,021 firms benefiting during the period, only 50—less than 5%—captured 75% of these advantages linked to the progressive removal, over fifteen years, of customs duties on 80% of European imports in exchange for preferential access to the EU market.
This heavy concentration of gains highlights an unequal distribution of EPA benefits, mainly favoring a small core of companies and sectors. “The analysis of the sectoral distribution of the top 50 companies using the preferential EPA tariff shows a predominance of industrial and commercial sectors,” said the Committee’s report, a think tank within the Ministry of Economy.
In detail, “wholesale and retail trade is the most represented branch with twelve companies importing agricultural inputs for resale in Cameroon. The manufacturing sector has the highest number of beneficiaries, including paper, cardboard, and printing (eight firms), beverage production (five), and metallurgical manufacturing (five),” the Committee added.
The twelve trading companies recorded CFA14.7 billion in fiscal gains, or 27.9% of total benefits. The beverage industry, with five firms, accounted for CFA9.3 billion (17.7%), followed by four producers of nonmetallic mineral products with CFA8.3 billion (15.7%). Eight firms in the paper, cardboard, and printing industry gained CFA5.1 billion, representing 9.7% of the total.
Large companies dominate the benefits
In contrast, sectors such as construction, furniture manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and cocoa processing each received less than CFA2 billion in EPA-related fiscal gains. Other branches reported smaller amounts, ranging between CFA320 million and slightly above CFA700 million.
Beyond sector disparities and the limited number of major beneficiaries, the structure of EPA benefits with the EU and the United Kingdom clearly favors large firms over small and medium-sized enterprises. SMEs capture only about 20% of fiscal gains, while large companies take 80%, deepening the structural imbalance in Cameroon’s productive sector.
On the tariff side, since the EPA took effect in 2016, raw materials (Group 1) and intermediate goods (Group 2) from the EU have been fully exempt from customs duties. As of August 5, 2025, tariff dismantling on Group 3 products—those with high fiscal yield such as vehicles, fuels, cement, and industrial packaging—has reached 60%. This reduction follows an annual 10% cut, leading to full exemption by 2030.
