Capitalise on Economic Partnership Agreement gains – Minister Motaze

The Minister of the Economy, Planning and Development, Louis Paul Motaze, has called on Cameroonians to capitalise on the gains of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).

Cameroon signed the EPAS with the European Union, EU, on the dismantling of trade barriers.

Motaze made the appeal while answering questions from members of the Association of Economic Journalists of Cameroon better known in French as Presse Economique, on January 18, 2016, in Yaounde.

The Minister urged stakeholders to bank on the EPA advantages on the Cameroonian economy and not capitalise on disadvantages.

Motaze was reacting to criticisms that by ratifying EPA in 2014, Cameroon was striking a raw economic deal with the EU.

Despite the agreement for both parties to dismantle trade barriers, critics insist that Cameroon will have only a negative balance of trade, given that, the EU is likely to flood Cameroonian markets with manufactured goods.

Economic analysts hold that besides losing huge sums of customs revenue to such a deal, Cameroon has only raw material to export to the EU market.

The EU market comprises 28 industrialised countries. Thus, Cameroon will open up its market to 80 percent of EU goods.

Motaze said it is incumbent on Cameroonians to focus on what they will gain from EPA rather than on what they will lose.

He said the positive effects of the agreement are quite visible given that Cameroonians will buy goods like cars, electronics and equipment from the EU markets cheaply.

He said the kind of goods that the EU will be sending to Cameroon will not be in competition with what is produced in the country.

The Minister said Cameroon should take advantage of its free access to the EU market to increase the production of its exports.

Going by him, the dismantling of trade barriers will not come in one big sweep, “It will be progressive so that the domestic market is protected at every segment.”

Talking about the Growth and Employment Strategy Paper, GESP, Motaze said it emphasises the creation and distribution of riches rather than the fight against poverty.

According to the Minister, the paper is quite different from the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, PRSP, which was drawn up when Cameroon was battling to reach the completion point of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, HIPCI.

He described the GESP as an embodiment of Vision 2035 that predicts Cameroon’s emergence.

The Minister corroborated President Biya that no country can attain emergence without transforming its raw materials to semi-finished and finished goods to trigger a positive balance of trade.

Speaking earlier, the President of Presse Eco, Francois Bambou, expressed gratitude to the Minister for taking off time to brief the press on some burning economic issues ailing the country.