Cameroonian authorities plan to recover approximately 300 billion CFA francs (over $523 million) in unpaid gold export duties for the period from 2023 to 2025, according to a press release from Cameroon's Ministry of Mines, Industry and Technological Development.

When analyzing reporting documents for 2023, authorities identified discrepancies between declared and actual gold volumes exported from Cameroon. According to the ministry, companies deliberately underreported extracted raw materials and failed to provide complete reports, leading to revenue losses or shortfalls for the state.

"The government is taking measures to address the shortcomings that have led ... to the loss of tax and customs revenues that the state could have collected from exports had they been carried out legally," the statement read.

In this context, authorities announced the launch of an operation to recover unpaid taxes from 51 companies whose activities revealed underreporting of extraction data. Additionally, duties will be collected from 33 facilities that used new extraction systems and did not declare their raw materials. The process will begin on August 1.

"These measures will allow the state to recover at least 300 billion CFA francs in the short term, thus compensating for the revenue losses noted in the 2023 Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) report, which amount to approximately 165 billion CFA francs. ... The implementation of this restructuring will eliminate discrepancies [in the taxation system], regardless of who exports gold — individuals or companies," the release stated.

In November of last year, Cameroon's Ministry of Finance reported that the budget deficit for 2026 would more than double due to rising expenditures.