Cameroon, emerging faster !

President Biya has outlined a set of social and economic steps as well as a specific roadmap for the government to follow.

‘Our growth and jobs strategy shows the way to reach our goals,’ said Paul Biya, in his December 2013 New Year’s message. ‘So where does the impression of a lack of consistency and readability of the government’s action in some parts of the economy come from? Why, in many cases, does it still take so long to make decisions that it slows the implementation of projects? Why does no region of our country have a public investment budget execution rate higher than 50%? What we need in the next few years is a veritable emergency plan.’ Since early 2015, the government has implemented priority steps that will be spread out over three years. The programme must move forward on the sidelines of classic budget-funded investment projects and speed up infrastructure construction in the country’s 10 regions. To finance the plan, Mr. Biya called on private banks. To reach the 925-billion-FCFA target, four Cameroonian banks — the BGFI Banque Cameroun, Banque Atlantique du Cameroun (BACM), Standard Chartered Bank Cameroon (SCBC) and Ecobank-Cameroun — and an international one — Deutsche Bank Madrid — agreed to release the necessary financing after months of talks with the Prime Minister’s office. ‘The discussions,’ Prime Minister Philemon Yang said during the 9 December 2014 cabinet meeting, ‘involved an in-depth analysis of various banks’ financial proposals, which allowed them to agree on borrowing terms guaranteeing each party’s interests, given this major operation’s urgent nature.’ The clauses on the loans’ sustainability reassured the Bretton Woods institutions, which have regularly warned the government about the hazards of over-indebtedness. According to international criteria, the threshold is 70% of GDP; Cameroon’s debt is less than 30% of GDP, leaving it with a wide margin. That argument clinched a $1.5-billion Eurobond issue launched on the European financial markets in March intended to partly finance the president’s programme.

The emergency plan comes at a time of lofty expectations on the part of Cameroonians, who are faced with the high cost of living and a shortage of basic social services, especially outside the capital. Satisfaction was widespread at the announcement of the programme, which ranges from building hospitals and social housing in the regions to developing markets and drilling water wells nationwide. Criticism comes from those who doubt the government’s ability to complete the programme on time. President Biya warned his team about coming up short. This is ‘an efficiency test for you and your departments,’ he said. ‘You are being asked to meet specific targets in a limited timeframe with the financial means at your disposal. Your responsibility, in the literal sense of the term, will also be put to the test because the progress of our country’s economy and the well-being of our fellow citizens depend on how successful you are.’ Did the ministers get the message?

Another challenge will be to ensure that the programme creates jobs. The official instructions are to award contracts only to companies with the required expertise, experience and financial capacity — in other words multinationals — but the government is trying to ensure that a maximum number of local businesses can compete. Local businesses have already obtained an agreement to have at least 30% of the construction of major infrastructure projects subcontracted to them. In recent years, many projects have been snarled by red tape. But Economy Minister Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi wants to strike a reassuring note. ‘We’ve already done the groundwork to identify the projects and financial partners,’ he said. ‘For some, the technical partner has been proposed, all the documentation is available and the sites are known. Now we must move on to the stages of signing the work contracts, mobilising resources and carrying out the projects.’ In addition to the monitoring committee chaired by the Prime Minister, an emergency plan procurement commission has been set up. Its job is to review the contract proposals and company submissions and select the best.