TRADERS COMPLAIN ABOUT CEMAC COINS

It is alarming and worth noting that the New CEMAC bank notes and coins that went into circulation early last year, are now being rejected by some local traders in the community. The coins are FCFA 1,2,5,10 and 25 respectively.The people grossly affected with this problem are the local traders who sell Petty items in the markets or local shops around the community. On the reason why the coins are refused, some traders say they easily get missing due to their small in size nature.

Looking at the former coins that circulated for over 10 years with no complain, some traders say they still prefer it because it last for long and when well kept, it can't easily get missing. the striking issue about this problem is that the authorities of the Central African Monetary and Economic Commission CEMAC are very silent about the issue. The bank of Central African States BEAC, charged with the production and distribution of these coins to its member countries is doing nothing to remedy the situation which is fast eating the market.

It was as a result of some reasons such as - the coin shortage noticed since 2003 which BEAC attributed to the retention of coins by casino owners, coin machine managers and certain operators that use them for jewellery fabrication, quarrels usually erupt between consumers in business, transport facilities and other financial transactions because of lack of coins also, the coins were intended to curb the shortages and malpractices of some corporations dealing with the payments of bills such as AES SONEL, SNEC, and other establishments in the country.

Cameroon being the main source of power in the Economic Region is not left out with this problem. Recently in a local petrol station, in Buea the Provincial or Regional Capital for the South West Region, a quarrel ensued between the local petrol dealer and a taxi driver who refused in total FCFA 400 all in FCFA 25 in coins saying his passengers will refuse collecting the coins. The former coins he says are far much better than this ones.

This problem should be solved else those coins will be refused even in banks and other financial institutions in the various countries of the the CEMAC ZONE. The governor of the Bank of Central African States. Let the authorities concerned take appropriate measures to re-structure the sizes of the coins as that seems to be the only problem of it's refusal.