(Business in Cameroon) - By inaugurating the French pavilion, gathering the French companies participating in the 6^th edition of the International Enterprise, SME and Partnership Fair (Promote 2017), the Minister of Economy, Louis Paul Motazé, revealed that the Cameroonian government is currently negotiating on an agreement with the IMF.

These negotiations should lead to the establishment of a recovery plan for the Cameroonian economy, in the throes of the drop in the world market prices for commodities, including crude oil. Minister Motazé however hastened to specify that this recovery plan should not come with austerity measures, following the wish of the Cameroonian Head of State expressed in his address to the nation this past 31 December.

Indeed, since an Extraordinary Summit of Cemac Heads of State was held in Yaoundé in December 2016, during which the six countries in this community decided to resort to the IMF expertise to reduce the economic difficulties created by the oil crisis, Cameroonians have been dreading a return to a regime of austerity.

This fear is supported by the structural adjustment programmes implemented by the IMF in Cameroon in the past, which for example, led to the reduction in salaries in the civil service and the more or less successful privatisation of several public companies.

BRM