The digital economy should cost FCfa 600 bln - Minister

Cameroon will need investments worth approximately FCfa 600 billion, to finance its national digital economy development plan, we learned at the end of a meeting organised on 26 August 2016 in Yaoundé, the capital by the Minister of Post and Telecoms, Minette Libom Li Likeng.

Though the details of this plan requested at the beginning of the year from the firms Capgemini Consulting and Interface have not yet been made public, we learned that it will focus in priority on the development of telecommunications infrastructure in the country.

The creation of this digital economy development plan is the result of an order given to the Cameroonian government by the Head of State, during his address to the Nation given at the end of 2015. President Biya then invited his collaborators to work so as to seize all opportunities provided by the digital economy, to speed the development of the country.

As a reminder, in its 2016 report on ICT entitled “innovation in the digital economy”, the World Economic Forum (WEF) ranks Cameroon at the 124th position out of 139 countries in the world. Cameroon is thus among the 20 investigated nations, who integrate ICT the least in their socials and economic development.

To reverse this trend and be able to take advantage of the changes spurred by the development of the digital economy, the Cameroonian government even selected the digital sector (with the agro-industry and energy) among the “highest priorities” of the industrialisation master plan (PDI) of the country, which is currently being finalised.