An IMF mission evaluates Cameroon’s economy

A team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will visit Cameroon to evaluate the country's economy from September 14 to 24, 2015 .

This visit comes as part of consultations in 2015, in respect to article IV of the IMF agreement articles. Yesterday in the morning, the delegation led by Mario de Zamaroczy paid a courtesy visit to Alamine Ousmane Mey, Minister of Finance (Minfi).

At the end of the meeting between the two parties, the head of the IMF mission spoke to the press. He explained that after the last visit in May 2014, "the international situation has changed dramatically. For example, Mario de Zamaroczy recalled that in May 2014, crude oil was selling at $ 108 (62 600 F) per barrel. Last Friday, the same barrel was selling at $ 48 (27 817 F). "Therefore, this has led to a severe oil shock".

The head of the mission also noted that: “in 2014, we had hoped to be at the beginning of an economic restart, out of the great depression of 2008-2009. But today, we can see that this reboot has a bit of trouble to materialize in some parts of the world.”

Facing this difficult international context, the IMF stressed that "Cameroon has demonstrated great resilience, particularly at the level of its economic growth in 2014 performance, estimated at almost 6%, with controlled inflation. And we believe, based on the indications that we have, that the trend for 2015 would be similar.”

As a reminder, discussions with Minfi focused on the budgetary situation of Cameroon. Subsequently, the IMF mission visited the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development (Minepat). With Minister Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi, they reviewed the situation of the large investment projects as well as growth indicators. We accept that for the year 2015 and taking into account the performance recorded in the first half, Cameroon's economy is expected to grow to nearly 6% and inflation would be contained below 3%.

Concerning the 2015 budget, and taking into account the decline in oil revenues, Mario de Zamaroczy noted that on another hand that “subsidies fuel have been planned and were not paid.” So let's look at how this can be balanced. With regards to investment, the head of the IMF mission said that projects move forward in a visible way, but are financed with foreign debt, which we care a little on the speed with which it grows in Cameroon. It is precisely in this context that we will direct our discussions with various members of the government.