(Business in Cameroon) – Cameroon’s National Institute of Statistics (INS) reported a slight decrease in transport costs for August 2024. The announcement was made in its latest monthly report on household consumption prices, released on September 19, 2024. This decline contributed to a 0.1% reduction in transport fares. According to the INS, the drop is mainly due to the lower prices of smuggled fuel, known locally as “zoua-zoua” or “fungen,” coming from Nigeria, which has seen a significant increase in supply.
The recent devaluation of Nigeria’s currency, the naira, directly affected the price of zoua-zoua. In February, for instance, the price of a liter of this smuggled fuel dropped from CFA800 to CFA350 in Garoua, the regional capital of the North. Experts described this devaluation as “historic.” Smugglers from Cameroon were buying the fuel for about CFA125 per liter on the Nigerian side of the border, marking a nearly 40% drop compared to earlier in the year. This reduction in zoua-zoua prices, widely used by motorbike taxi drivers in northern Cameroon, led to lower transport fares. For example, the fare from Garoua to Pitoa fell from CFA500 to CFA350, a 30% decrease during the day.
It’s worth noting, though, that this decrease in transport fares follows a period of price hikes. In July, the INS reported inflationary pressures, driven in part by rising transport costs. Over the past 12 months, transport prices had increased by an average of 14.4%, according to the INS, which manages official statistics in Cameroon.
