(Business in Cameroon) - Last month, while presenting the budget of his ministry before the parliament, Minister of Economy Alamine Ousmane Mey indicated that the country’s growth would be less than forecast. According to the official, due to unfavorable conditions, Cameroon’s economy would grow by  “about -2.6% in 2020, after an estimated growth of 3.7% in 2019 with inflation controlled at 2.5%."

This new outlook is lower than the forecasts published by the government in H1-2020.  At the time, the authorities were forecasting that the country would enter recession this year but the growth rate would be -1%.

Alamine Ousmane Mey cites the negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy as the reason for the new projections. “The national environment was affected by the persistence of security crises in the economically affected regions, the suspension of industrial activities of the National Refining Company (Sonara), the downward revision of up to 11%, or XAF542.7 billion in absolute terms of the initial state budget (...), to take into account the broad-spectrum impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on public finances," he said.

S.A.