Finance Minister on Monday defended two bills in the Finance and Budget Committee.

Members of the National Assembly will soon examine and adopt in a plenary sitting, the 2011 Settlement bill dedicated to the execution of the 2011 State budget and Bill N° 919/PJL/AN to ratify Ordinance N° 2012/1 of 28 June 2012 to amend and supplement some provisions of Law N° 2011/20 of 14 December 2012: Finance Law of the Republic of Cameroon for the 2012 Financial Year. The Minister of Finance, Alamine Ousmane Mey yesterday, November 19, 2012 defended the two bills in the Committee on Finance and Budget of the National Assembly. This was in the presence of the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi, the Vice Prime Minister, Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Relations with the Assemblies, Amadou Ali, among other officials.

The bill concerned the adopted State budget for 2011 that stood at FCFA 2,571 billion. Revenue in terms of cash flow stood at FCFA 2,531,754,050,964, representing an execution rate of 98.47 per cent. Expenditure stood at FCFA 2,454,250,747,633 against the initial appropriations of FCFA 2,570 billion, with an execution rate of 95.46 per cent. The difference in cash flow and settlements give a budget surplus of FCFA 77,503,303,331, which government explains was taken into account in the State financial strategy for 2012.

The members of the Committee on Finance and Budget also examined Bill N° 919/PJL/AN to ratify Ordinance N° 2012/1 of 28 June 2012 to amend and supplement some provisions of Law N° 2011/20 of 14 December 2012: Finance Law of the Republic of Cameroon for the 2012 Financial Year. The President of the Republic signed the ordinance raising the ceiling of government loans by FCFA 250 billion, increasing it from FCFA 200 billion to FCFA 450 billion. This enabled the State during the 2012 financial year to have a larger debt margin in order to finance development projects such as the Yaounde-Douala superhighway.