CBF participants petition Biya over delayed reforms

The most pressing call emanating from the Cameroon Business Forum (CBF), which held its 6th meeting on March 9, 2015 in Douala, the country’s economic capital, was addressed to President Paul Biya.

The participants of the forum called on the President to intervene in the discussions between government officials and companies in order to end the delays evident in the President’s service with processing the institutional reforms intended to improve the business environment in Cameroon.

Since its inception in 2009 with the initiative of the Cameroonian government and the IFC, some 198 reforms have been proposed, but in five years, the results have not been too good.

Only 60% of the recommendations from these meetings have been implemented and 2015 is turning out to be one of the least fruitful years, with only 50% of recommendations being implemented. One of the challenges with the implementation of these reforms is the time taken, sometimes it takes two to three years.

The 6th Cameroon Business Forum was therefore, the opportunity for new recommendations to be made. Finance Minister Alamine Ousmane Mey insisted on efforts which could help to make the Douala Stock Exchange (DSX), which has been struggling to become the choice financing instrument for companies and to be more dynamic.

President of the business leadership entity, ECAM, Protais Ayangma, insisted on the necessity of strengthening the participation of the private sector in public-private partnerships.

All eyes now look to Cameroon’s improvement in Doing Business, the ranking publication which evaluates the implementation of reforms to create a business development-friendly environment.

Some observers, however, feel that the overall consensus resulting from the sixth CBF is that one of the major challenges is to manage to combine the efforts of the government and the private sector to overcome their shared obstacles.