(Business in Cameroon) - The World Bank has only disbursed 22.6% of its commitment portfolio in Cameroon. Of an estimated CFA1,552 billion promised for 19 active projects, the country has only received CFA352 billion so far, the joint portfolio review made last May 16-17 in Yaoundé found.

Much of the blame lies with Cameroon, which, according to the Minister Delegate at the Ministry of Economy, has shown several shortcomings. These include delays in obtaining decrees for expropriation and compensation of the populations affected by the project works, the low maturity of projects in the portfolio, inadequate mobilization of counterpart funds, and the security crisis in certain regions of the country where several projects are located.

As a result, if Cameroon fails to use up the remaining funding within the next three years, they will become forfeited, thus jeopardizing the projects for which they were allocated. "It is therefore up to us here to identify the measures and actions to be rolled out to improve the performance of ongoing projects and, consequently, the overall cooperation portfolio," Minister Paul Tasong said.

World Bank's investments in Cameroon, as of Mid-2022, were primarily focused on the infrastructure sector (54.8% of the overall portfolio). The remainder was distributed among the rural development sector (12.0%), health (9.7%), governance (8.8%), education (7.7%), social development (3.6%), and industry and services (3.4%).