World Bank warns eight million Cameroonians threatened by extreme poverty.

The global financial institution in its recent report on member countries of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community, CEMAC, projected that if current trends continue, the extreme poverty rate in Cameroon could reach 25.0% of the population, which translates into affecting approximately 8 million people within the next two years. 

The World Bank's most recent CEMAC Economic Barometer, published on June 17, highlights that the population living in extreme poverty has already increased by more than 2 million since 2001, now exceeding 6 million, or 23% of the Cameroonian population.

The fifth Cameroon Household Survey (ECam5) by the National Institute of Statistics, NIS, indicates that "nearly two out of five Cameroonians live below the national poverty line, set at 813 FCFA per day per person". 

This threshold translates to about ten million people living in poverty in 2022, out of an estimated total population of around 27 million. More than half of these impoverished individuals are in extreme poverty, the NIS states.

Despite a slight improvement in the Gini index from 0.44 to 0.43 between 2014 and 2021, indicating minor progress in reducing inequality, the experts assert that disparities remain a significant barrier to poverty alleviation. 

The ECam5 report, published on May 22, reveals that "the richest 20% consume about 10 times more than the poorest 20%", underscoring an unequal distribution of economic resources.

Cameroon also faces economic fragility exacerbated by conflicts affecting six of the country's ten regions and the impacts of climate change on natural resources, which are vital for agriculture, the primary source of income for four out of ten workers. 

NIS data also show an increase in the incidence of poverty, from 37.5% to 38.6% between 2014 and 2021, indicating a slight deterioration rather than an improvement. 

This trend is far from meeting the National Development Strategy Document, SND30, goal of bringing down the incidence of poverty to at most 30.8% by 2030.

Therefore, the World Bank calls on the authorities to quickly come up with workable or strategic measures in response to this worrying situation. 

The institution suggests that reallocating budget savings from reduced fuel subsidies to productive expenditures, including investments in social programmes and human capital development, could provide short-term support to the poor and vulnerable. 

However, for sustainable poverty reduction, the World Bank emphasizes the need to accelerate economic growth to create more decent jobs and reduce the deep socio-economic disparities that hinder inclusive development in Cameroon.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue N0:3172 of Thursday July 18, 2024