As far as the Economic Partnership Agreement – EPA goes , opinions , requested or freely offered , have sprung up from sources as extensive and different as their numbers. Government and independent economists have dragged on opposing sides as per the relevance and stimulus of this trade agreement betweeen Cameroon and the European Union . In this war of words , the grainy details are usually lost , burried in the sand of who is right and who is not .
On the 4th of August 2017, the second phase of the interim agreement will go into effect . Before that happens , let us take out time to consider some of the basic facts .
Genesis of it all , colonial masters offerred assistance to former colonies. The arrangement evolved and became contractual , the principle being equality of partners and ownership of developement strategies .
For Cameroon’s specific case , 2016 might be the official take off date , but the country had initiated the agreement in 2007 . In all that time Cameroon was benefitting from duty free exports of her cocoa , coffee and banana to EU markets . That liberty would change if Cameroon did not agree to offer as much as she was getting ; that is , accepting duty free imports from the EU .This will mean giving up the revenue got from these exports . Faced with this situation , the Cameroon government decided on taking the EPA deal .
One of the major worries of the anti EPA camp has been that local producers will be choked out of business with cheap goods coming in from Europe . If the clauses of the agreement are anything to go by , the early stages of the deal will mostly concern goods – trailers , drugs and other heavy mechinery that are not being manufactured locally but which are nonetheless indispensable to the national economy . Experts estimate that it will take at least 20 years before Cameroon is capable of taking on ventures of the like.
Another section of the agreement makes provision for government to punch the alarm button any time a specific sector is threatened by imports covered by the EPA . In response , the circulation of the said good will immediately be halted .
For the majority of Cameroonians , the belief is that theEconomic Partnership Agreement means zero tax is paid to the government. In reality , all internal taxes are exempted from the EPA . What this means is that , goods that are covered by the EPA still pay VAT , EXCISSES and other internal charges. What the agreement covers is the regional External Common Tarif – ECT . So , since the 4th of August 2016 , EPA imports have enjoyed a -25% discount from the 30% set by CEMAC.
The fear that Cameroon might have bitten more than it can chew is still very present , genuine and even founded . It is afterall a risk adventure . Even if all parties agree on this clear fact , maybe the bail out clause will still provide some solace to many a doubting Thomas.
mumahmanda 