The news of tax exemption on imported gas bottles was interpreted in many ways. Indeed, on October 20, 2017, when the ministry of commerce announced a 30% tax reduction on gas bottles, some people thought that gas prices would be affected as well. "Gas prices’ did not change, only the price of empty gas bottle did,” explained Alain Romuald Ombede, the regional delegate of the Ministry of Commerce in Cameroon’s central region.

"A housewife who would like to buy a new gas cylinder will benefit from the 30% discount. In fact, the price of gas bottles will vary from a marketer to another and, given that they are 12 of those operating across the country, I think that competition will lead them to reflect the reduction on gas bottle, not the actual domestic gas price,” he continued, explaining that a gas bottle which usually costs CFA13,000 for instance, will cost CFA10,400.

Alain Romuald Ombede also indicated that there are certainly some marketers who still have gas cylinders which did not benefit from the tax/custom exemption, effective since July, 2017. “Those marketers will not be able to automatically lower prices of gas bottles,’" he stressed.

S.A