World Bank did not pressurize Cmr to increase fuel prices - Director

In an interview published by the Agency CIO, Gregor Blinkert, the Director of operations of the World Bank for CEMAC countries, with residence in Yaoundé, Cameroon, indicates that the decision of the government of Cameroon to carry out, on 30 June an increase in prices of petroleum products is made without ' pressure' from the World Bank.

It was "a sovereign decision of the government of Cameroon", supports the head of the World Bank, who said he "learned of this measure through the media."

Gregor Blinkert reacts due to the approximation made by media analysts and the Cameroonian public opinion, between the price increase which took effect July 1, 2014 and a study published a few months ago by the World Bank on the inappropriateness of the petroleum products subsidy in Cameroon, a posture of the World Bank which was also shared by the international monetary Fund (IMF).

"You followed the international monetary Fund also. We made analysis. And an important point in this analysis was that the beneficiaries of this grant were not poor. These are rather the more affluent of Cameroonian society. The analysis demonstrated on the other hand, that the poor use little products that need diesel fuel or gasoline. Also, the analysis showed that kerosene is used by the poor. And I was very pleased when the Government decided not to change the price of kerosene," says Mr. Blinkert.

For him, the grant for the consumption of petroleum products in Cameroon "was already too expensive to the State from 2010.

It cost 400 billion Cfa francs per year. For the first half of this year 2014, it cost already more than 150 billion Cfa francs to the Treasury.