For more than two years now, for Cameroon, 25frs, 50frs, 100frs and 500frs coin don dey rare like gold.
How traders and customers dey survive di mata? Wetin go explain di scarcity?
Di shortage of coins don cause kasala for di commercial activity for Cameroon.
From serice stations, bakeries, pharmacies, food markets, no place dey safe.
Na so di small economy don get wahala.
Na real palalva for Odette wey dey sell pineapple, “sales no dey waka well.
“Now for you to fit sell, you gatz get coins first.
“Most pipo dey carry paper money come, How you go fit give change.”
Today, di money she dey make don drop, sake of say small change for coins dey scarce.
For dis consumer, for market, life no easy for am too:
“E no easy for buyers like us, you go cari 1,000 francs follow bodi, buy sometin of 600 francs, di seller go tell you say im no get 400 francs”
Why small change dey rare like dis
Bank of Cerntral African States (BEAC), don put for circulations banknotes and coins wey dey worth pass 4 billion FCFA.
Dis be according to Cameroonian newspaper Ecomatin on May 27, wey report say be 12% increase from 2020.
Cameroon be di leading economy for di CEMAC (Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa).
Di kontri 42% of di money, dat na more than 1.728 billion FCFA.
But dis injections neva comot di shortage of coins for di kontri.
Cameroonian economist, Dr. Jean Marie Biada give three reasons wey fit explain di shortage.
Di first, according to am, dey linked to non-renewal of monetary signs.
“For Cameroon case, monetary signs dey replaced every 10 years, we replace dem for 2003.
“But for 2013 we no do am so we get di same monetary signs”, na how im explain am.
“Because dem no renew dia monetary signs, we don see our self for monetary mass wey dey responsible for framing transactions by 10-15 million pipo.
Now, di size of di population don increase to 25 million so millions more pipo dey added.
You get up to 10, 20, 40% of operators for di informal sector and oda sectors wey dem add.
But di money supply neva change”, na wetin di economist tok.
Di second reason wey Dr Biada tok dey related to di expanding of di banking network wey don create ogbonge demand:
“Before we get our commercial banks wey dey based for Douala and Yaoundé.
“But di beta for economy don mean say counters don multiply all ova di kontri”.
Las-las, Dr Biada say di third of di shortage, “di growing increase for small trades mean say we need more small change, unfortunately dem no reach, so e dey scarce”.
Among di cause of shortage di newspaper Ecomatin also see two wahala:
Dat of distribution circuit and dat of communication say e dey possible say dem go change banknotes to coins for some specific places.
For 2018, di national gendarmerie bin scata network wey Cameroonians and Chinese pipo make bin get several bags of 100 francs coins wey dem estimate say dey worth several million CFA francs.
Because of how di traffic take big, di govnor of di BEAC bin try calm pipo mind for monetary policy meeting of di central bank for 2019.
E say dem go do investigation with di Cameroonian authorities and oda CEMAC kontris to determine how dis tin deep reach and get ways to stop am.
Which role coins dey play for economy?
For dia 2020 annual report. di Bank of Central African States, Central Bank to di six CEMAC kontris, di BEAC, say dem don record payments of coins wey reach 13,000 billion from banks and public accountants.
Dr Biada say, “fractional currency dey actually make monetary economy to dey possible.
“Di main interest for small change like coins na say e go dey enough.
“Di speed of transactions for di economy to dey very fast, so di absence go cause delays”.
E conclude say, “wen di transactions happun fast-fast, di main ogbonge impact na wertin? na increase for business profits.
“And wen business profits dey rise, di state dey happy because dem fit base dia tax on am.
“Di scarcity of coins dey cause palava for di micro-economic level but also di macro-economic level”.
BBC Afrique bin contact di communication services for di BEAC to find out how di bank dey plan to solve di problem of shortage for small change.
But efforts to get response from dem no work.
