IMF/World Bank Mission Outlines Conditions

Prime Minister Philemon Yang on May 16 received the institutions' officials.

The leader of the Joint International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB) and African Development Bank (ADB) review mission to Cameroon, Mario de Zamaroczy on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 in Yaounde outlined conditions Cameroon must meet to attain the status of an emerging country by 2035. He spoke after the mission members had discussions with Prime Minister, Head of Government, Philemon Yang at the Star Building that came at the end of two weeks of evaluation mission on the performance of Cameroon's economy.

In a preliminary assessment after their discussions with Cameroon government authorities and economic actors on the economic performance, perspectives and challenges confronting the country, Mario de Zamaroczy said, "Cameroon's economic performance had been good in 2011 and we expect it to continue in 2012." He said Cameroon has shown great resilience to the international crisis just as some countries in Sub-Sahara Africa.

Cameroon, he advised, has to meet serious challenges as it strives to become an emerging country by 2035. Mario de Zamaroczy said for the emergence to become a concrete reality, Cameroon's annual growth must rise from the roughly five per cent projected for 2012. For this to happen, he recommended further increase in public investment, bringing in of domestic and international private sector, improving the business climate through removing legal and judicial constraints and also reinforcing contracts. He equally advised government to cut down expenditure and plough back the resources to boost public investment.

Before the audience at the Star Building, members of the Joint IMF/World /ADB mission gave a press conference at the Ministry of Finance during which they presented the situation of the country's economy. They left Cameroon for Washington, United States of America where they will prepare a report on the country's economic performance. IMF Executive Board members will discuss the report in mid- July 2012.