(Business in Cameroon) - On July 2, Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute instructed Finance Minister Louis Paul Motaze to submit, within a fortnight, the budgetary guidelines that could be included in the 2021 Budget Act currently being drafted, to reduce the country's imports.

For that purpose, the Minister of Finance has already given some indications: "given the decline in government revenues, the State's economic and financial outlook for the 2021-2023 period is mainly based on the ‘import substitution’ approach through the reduction or gradual abolition of exemptions on some products that are weighing on the trade balance, to encourage local production on a larger scale.”

Also, the Minfi informs, various facilities will be granted to domestic producers to promote the "made in Cameroon" and emphasis will be placed on improving the profitability and competitiveness of public enterprises.

This projected government approach is in line with Cameroon's 2030 National Development Strategy. According to this strategy, the country plans to reduce the trade deficit from 8.8% in 2018 to about 3% of GDP in 2030.

S.A.