(Business in Cameroon) - A team of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) led by Corinne Deléchat sojourned in Yaoundé from October 24 to November 3, 2017. This was to conduct talks related to the first review of the program, backed by the Extended Credit Facility (ECF), which was approved in June.

At the end of the visit, Ms. Deléchat said that Cameroon’s 2018 budget (provisional budget of CFA4,513 billion), plans for a new reduction of the budget deficit to 2.3% of the GDP, in line with the objectives set by the ECF-backed program. She indicated that to reach these objectives, Cameroon’s authorities will implement a new set of measures to increase revenues by widening the tax base and rationalizing at the same time public expenditures while improving their quality.

"In particular, the authorities intend to draw strict priorities for public investment, focusing on ongoing key infrastructures and related projects, and projects with a high socio-economic impact", Corinne Deléchat said. As for the 2017 fiscal year whose budget is CFA4,373.8 billion, budget deficit over the period should as projected reduce from 6.2% to 3.1% of GDP.

Sylvain Andzongo