Cameroon’s Minister of Trade, Luc Magloir Atangana on June 25, 2020 informed that Cameroon has witnessed a 16 percent drop in its international trade between January and June 2020.

According to the Cameroon Business web page, it was during a Cabinet meeting which took place in Yaounde Chaired by Prime Minister Head of Government, Chief Dr. Joseph Dion Ngute.

The information revealed that the country’s imports have fallen by 16 percent with a 15 percent drop in exports. This has been blamed to the novel corona virus that continues to disrupt the smooth functioning of economic activities within the country’s national and international lines.

Since March 17^th, 2020, the government in one of its measures put in place to mitigate the inflow of the pandemic had announced an unavoidable closure of its borders.

The country later permitted business transactions for cargo planes and limited shipping to enhance the survival of the economy but most of the country’s trade partners were also in confinement due to rising threats from the virus.

Following the page, the minister sited that the border blockages had caused a drop in demand for Cameroon’s raw materials like “banana, wood, oil, natural gas and cotton by 42 percent between January and April, 2020.” This, he said, discouraged importers and exporters.

Meantime, prices of local consumer goods within Cameroon have dropped to the favor of consumers but farmers are crying out over loses incurred as the mostly perishables cannot be sold across the national territories like before.