The International Monetary Fund Mission ended two weeks of consultation last Thursday, April 01 in Yaounde.
Cameroon’s economic outlook remains favourable with growth expected to pick up to around 3 per cent in 2010 and to accelerate further in the coming years. This statement contained in the press release issued at the end of the two-week mission to the country of the IMF aptly summarises the impression or better still, conviction of Mauro Mecagni, head of the delegation and his team.

The head of the IMF mission during a joint press conference with Essimi Menye, Minister of Finance was rather optimistic about the country’s economic future. The maritime traffic has improved tremendously, a sign of an economy that is bouncing back, Mecagni told journalists, underscoring that the sustainability of the new dispensation largely depends on the “consolidation of the global recovery that could bolster demand for Cameroon’s exports.”

That said, the press statement issued by the Bretton Woods Organisation, stated inter alia, the impact of the global financial crisis on the economy. “The global financial crisis continued to affect Cameroon through weak external demand for the country’s main export commodities”, the statement said, but stated that the impact was less severe than expected. The reason, Mecagni said, is found in Cameroon’s “appropriate” policy response, the Fund’s financial support under the rapid access component of the Exogenous Shocks Facility and the global recovery underway.

Economic growth slowed to 2 per cent as a result of this in 2009 from 2.9 a year earlier. With signs of recovery visibly in the air, the International Monetary Fund thinks Cameroonian authorities would need to carryout some major reforms/policies in that direction. In this light, the head of the delegation declared the intension of the IMF to cooperation with other institutions to assist Cameroonian authorities technically in the country’s new economic programme. He was not very clear on whether or not Cameroon will be ready for such a programme but as confirmed by the Minister of Finance, the government has effectively worked out one and will, in the months ahead, get into negotiation with the IMF.

That notwithstanding, after two weeks of working sessions (March 17 to April 01) with Cameroonian authorities within the framework of the organisation’s Article IV Consultation which obliges the IMF to hold discussions with members every year, the delegation formulated a number of recommendations for Cameroon. Some of them include: need to prioritise projects, address the important infrastructural bottlenecks affecting growth prospects, and effectively implement the Growth and Employment Strategy Paper (GESP), notably, better selecting, executing, and monitoring public investment projects.

Finance Minister on his part promised forging ahead with public finance cleansing measures, beginning with the issuing of receipt orders to 15,000 State workers for earning undue salaries and other advantages. Government initiated a survey running from 2005 till date to identify workers who have fraudulently established documents in order to swell salaries and earn fictitious dues from the State coffers, Essimi Menye said, stating that more than 200 people have equally changed their ages in order to extend their stay on the government payroll.

The IMF’s Executive Board is expected to discuss the 2010 Article IV Consultation with Cameroon by mid-June, the head of the delegation said.