Fuel goes up after IMF pressures Cameroon to end price subsidy

Cameroonians were faced with a fuel price rise on Wednesday of about 15 percent, meaning a litre of diesel that used to cost them 575 CFA francs (0.87 euros), will now go up to 720 CFA francs (1.09 euros).

The rise came after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had put pressure on the government to cut its fuel subsidy.

But there will be a 5.2 percent salary rise for civil service workers to help soften the blow, the prime minister’s office stated.

“They recognized the need to reduce the costly fuel subsidies, which are unsustainable under the current international oil price projections and are poorly targeted to those in need and crowd out priority spending,” the IMF, referring to the government, said in a news release on Tuesday.

“The fuel subsidies represent six times the budget allocated to agriculture, four times that to health, and over three times that to energy and water. Fuel subsidy reform would need to be accompanied by measures to mitigate the impact on the most vulnerable, including cash transfers,” it added.

In March the IMF is scheduled to give 68.5 million euros in credit to the government.