The signing ceremony of the credit agreement took place last Friday between the minister in charge of the economy and the director of operations of the financial institution.

On May 17, the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, alongside the Minister in charge of public procurement and the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Finance, signed with the World Bank a credit agreement for the financing of the project to improve the efficiency of public expenditure and the statistical system (PEPS).

The budget amounting to 31 million dollars, or 17.38 billion F, will help support Cameroon in its fight to improve the quality of public finance management. If we stick to the data which show that less than 50% of GDP contributes to the gross fixed capital formation of Cameroon, it is clear that much remains to be done.

And it is rightly that Elisabeth Huybens, director of operations at the WB reminded that the actions undertaken within the framework of the PEPS must above all contribute to the reduction of poverty. “Good statistics are very important to be able to make good decisions. It is important to select public investment projects well and to have public procurement that supports the efficient and cost-effective implementation of public investments so that they can best contribute to poverty reduction,” said explained Elisabeth Huybens.

This project has four components: the consolidation of the program budget reform in the sectoral ministries; improving the quality of public investment in line ministries; improving the performance of the procurement system and strengthening the national statistics system.

“Our country is engaged in a process of structural reforms. Our financial resources, however important they may be, do not always allow us to obtain the desired result in the most efficient way. It was given to us to note these insufficiencies and to work to find solutions”, indicates Alamine Ousmane Mey.

According to Minepat, these measures are precisely in line with the project which was the subject of the signing of the credit agreement. “We want to think that through the financing that the WB brings us, we will have more reliable and more regular statistics, with the aim of developing consistent public policies. A more effective public policy in the response to the problems of the populations is through investments in several sectors and they must be as effective as possible but more efficient by using fewer resources”, concluded Minepat.