Prime Minister Philemon Yang during separate audiences on May 4, 2018 had talks with a delegation of the IMF/World Bank Mission and Japanese State Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The Prime Minister, Head of Government, Philemon Yang as early as 8:30 a.m. on May 4, 2018 had talks with members of the visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) Joint Mission to Cameroon who will for 10 days evaluate the performance of the country’s economy.
Speaking to the press after the talks, the leader of the IMF/WB Joint Mission, Daniel Owen said they discussed the recent developments in the economy of Cameroon and acknowledged the challenges the economy faces. “We also discussed the situation of external debt and the fact that the debt is very high in Cameroon. It is important to be very restrained in taking new loans, particularly non-concessional loans,” Daniel Owen advised.
Concerning the fiscal situation in Cameroon, the head of the IMF/WB Joint Mission said, “We agreed with the PM the importance of maintaining the fiscal adjustment path that we agreed under the programme.” Cameroon and the IMF in June 2017 signed and Extended Credit Facility Programme amounting to FCFA 227.646 billion.
“The centrepiece of the programme in Cameroon is on the adjustment of the fiscal deficit which is rather high in the past 6 per cent in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2016. As part of the effort to stabilise the situation in Cameroon but also more broadly to stability in the CEMAC region, it was agreed that this deficit should be brought down quite substantially to around 2 per cent GDP.”
At 10: 00 a.m. the same Friday, May 4, 2018, Prime Minister Yang had talks with the visiting State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, Masahisa Sato. Talking to the press after the talks, he said he came to invite President Paul Biya of Cameroon to attend the seventh edition of Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD 7) that will take place in Japan next year 2019.
He said the visit was also an occasion to further reinforce bilateral relations between Cameroon and Japan and to reinforce the cooperation on the international scene. While lauding Cameroon’s efforts to maintain security in its restive areas, the Japanese minister promised his country’s commitment to continue to give assistance on the management of refugees and also boost education.
Source : Cameroon-Tribune
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