(Business in Cameroon) - In an interview published today December 20, 2019, by Cameroonian magazine Expression économique, Cyrille Edou Alo’o, Director-General for Budget, explains the reasons for the 5% year on year decline in Cameroon’s 2020 budget.
“The budget is exposed to external and internal risks, which can influence its implementation. Hence the need to take into account the macroeconomic reality and outlook, internal and external socio-economic factors that is. Externally, we have taken into account, among other things, certain risks that could affect global economic growth. These include uncertainties related to international trade tensions between the United States and China, the slowdown in economic growth among our trading partners, and the continued volatility of commodity prices, particularly for crude oil and cocoa,” he explains.
Internally, Mr. Edou Alo'o indicates, continued insecurity in the Northwest and Southwest regions and a deteriorating socio-political climate before and after the upcoming legislative and municipal elections in February 2020 could hamper ongoing fiscal consolidation efforts.
According to the official, the persistence of socio-political tensions in the Northwestern and Southwestern regions in the 2019 fiscal year and the May 2019 fire at SONARA severely disrupted economic activities, leading to a drop in tax revenues. “All these indicate the prudential logic in which this budget was drawn up and explains the slight decline you have seen,” Cyrille Edou Alo’o concludes.
Sylvain Andzongo