Restoring Economic Growth:

PM Yang Calls for Optimization of Measures

By Mercy Neba in Yaounde

PM Philemon Yang

The Prime Minister, Head of Government, Philemon YANG on Thursday 26 January 2018 chaired a Cabinet Meeting in his Office. In attendance were the Vice-Prime Minister, Ministers of State, Ministers, Ministers-Delegate and Secretaries of State.

                Three items featured on the agenda: The statement of the Minister for Finance on “the implementation of the resolutions of the Extraordinary Summit of Central African Heads of State held on 23 December 2016 on the Economic and Monetary Situation in the CEMAC zone”; The statement of the Minister for the Economy, Planning and Regional Development on “Measures for strengthening macro-economic stability in Cameroon”; The report of the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development on “Preparations for the Cameroon Agriculture Roundtable”.

                In his expose, the Minister for Finance recalled that, after the Extraordinary Summit of 23 December 2016, the Heads of State of Central Africa had adopted 21 resolutions to restore robust, sustainable and inclusive growth within the CEMAC area. These resolutions hinge on five major pillars, namely: (i) establish an appropriate budgetary policy especially by significantly cutting public spending and streamlining transfer payments; (ii) strengthen monetary policy and financial stability by maintaining the current fixed parity; (iii) strengthen international cooperation with technical and financial partners; (iv) pursue structural reforms through an integrated economic diversification strategy for CEMAC countries; (v) enhance regional integration through stronger customs union, free movement of persons and the development of integration-enhancing projects through the Regional Economic Programme.

                Alamine Ousmane indicated that the situation in the CEMAC zone requires that measures be taken internally to improve public spending quality. Apart from budgetary regulation, the measures taken in that regard concern especially ensuring strict compliance with quarterly commitment quotas, placing an upper limit on vote transfers and streamlining expenditure for routine consumption.

                Taking the queue, the Minister for the Economy, Planning and Regional Development pointed out that one of the key measures to get CEMAC out of the economic doldrums is to strengthen macro-economic stability. This will make it possible to prevent financial imbalances and crises.

                Motaze Louis Paul enumerated measures Cameroon has to implement to strengthen macro-economic stability including: (i) identify key growth levers that can induce a new cycle of wealth creation; (ii) carry through ongoing structural reforms in order to promote growth and reduce poverty; (iii) lend fresh impetus to private investment to support economic growth; (iv) prioritize concessional or public-private partnership (PPP) financing; (v) improve the efficiency of public investments.

                Lastly, the Minister for Agriculture edified his colleagues on the state of readiness for the Cameroon Agriculture Roundtable prescribed by the President of the Republic during the Ebolowa Agro-pastoral show. The Roundtable has been scheduled for the first half of 2018 and will bring together governmental actors, public/private national and foreign operators as well as the different components of the agricultural sector and the rural world. It will serve as framework to formulate and propose concrete measures to be consolidated in the National Plan for Ensuring the Transition to Second-Generation Agriculture in Cameroon.

                Regarding preparations per se, the Minister for Agriculture said that a coordination body is at work presently.

                At the end of the discussions, the Prime Minister asked the Minister in charge of the Economy to identify, plan and programme “second-generation” anchor projects, with a strict eye on their maturation.