At audience with PM Dion Ngute: Visiting IMF delegation hails Cameroon’s resilience amidst global shocks.

Officials of the delegation made the remarks in Yaounde yesterday. This was shortly after an audience that was granted them at the Star Building by the Prime Minister, Head of Government, Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute. 

The IMF mission in the country, it should be said, is under the third review under the Extended Credit Facility, ECF, and the Extended Fund Facility, EFF, arrangements and requests for waivers for performance criteria applicability and modification of performance criterion.

The IMF, it should be said, had approved a three-year arrangement with Cameroon in July 2021, to help the country better handle its post-COVID-19 challenges and restore its sustainability.

The IMF delegation has been in the country for the past two weeks to discuss the third review of the programme.

The delegation went knocking at the door of the Star Building to present its findings after the two weeks review of the programme carried out with other stakeholders.

The Head of the IMF delegation, Cemile Sancak, told reporters that the findings indicate that the country is on track in the phase of internal and global economic shocks.

“In terms of macroeconomic development, Cameroon is recovering well from the multiple exogenous shocks that the world has seen,” Sancak said.

While citing the global health pandemic, COVID-19, and the Russo-Ukrainian conflict along the disturbing situations that have caused a downturn in the global economy, she added that “Cameroon has recovered well and continues to recover”.

The audience between the visiting IMF officials and Head of Government also served as an opportunity for both parties to explore other avenues of cooperation between the financial institution and the country.

“We talked about the development plan, NDS30, and how we can work together to achieve the objectives of the development plan,” the IMF official stated.

The delegation was accompanied to the Star Building by the Resident Representative of the IMF in Cameroon, Nicholas Staines, as well as officials of the African Development Bank, AfDB.

It should be noted that in July 2021, the IMF’s Executive Board approved three-year arrangements under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for SDR 483 million (about US$689.5 million, or 175 percent of Cameroon’s quota) to support the country’s economic and financial reform programme.

The funds aim at, among other things, helping in the fight to mitigate the health, economic and social shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is also expected to be used to strengthen good governance and improve transparency and the fight against corruption, strengthen debt management and reduce debt vulnerabilities, and implement structural reforms to accelerate private sector led economic diversification.