By Synthia Lateu
The Cameroon National Assembly has adopted the sum of 6345.1 billion FCFA for the 2023 financial year, an increase of 264.7 billion FCFA year-on-year compared to 2022, i.e. an increase of 4.4% in relative value. This bill was adopted by the National Assembly on December 5, 2022, during a plenary sitting.
The finance bill was tabled in the National Assembly on Thursday, November 24, 2022, and several ministers succeeded each other in the hemicycle to defend their budget.
The Minister of Finance, Louise Paul Motaze congratulated the efforts of the finance committee and noted that the present crisis in the North West, South West, and Far North Regions continues to cause difficulties that leave the future uncertain. He said: “We have talked about the war; we hope that the war in Ukraine will go to an end. We don’t know how petrol will behave. The situation is very difficult but you know we are managing; we try to cope every time.”
The Member of Parliament, Honourable Findi Stanley Mokondo, explained that the budget reflects the ambitions of the head of state and hoped that it benefits every Cameroonian. He furthered that the ministry of finance reassure, them the budget has taken disposition for contracts not completely executed and the reconstruction and rehabilitation of SONARA “through a public-private partnership, SONARA should be rehabilitated the minister made it clear that efforts have been made and the committee has been set up effectively to execute the instructions of the head of state” Hon. Findi Stanley said.
Addressing the committee, Honorable Donald Malomba appealed for the non-executed contracts in the South West region not to be abandoned. He stated that the non-respect of the deadline of the award of the contract in the country affected the execution of these contracts in the conflict-stricken South West region now left with four working days.
Honorable Donald Malomba regretted that this situation accounts for the region being at the bottom of the classification during the last session of the national committee for the follow-up of the public investment budget.
Cameroon has in the past years been hit by sociopolitical and very recently, economic crises. Prices of necessities have been on the rise. The 2022 financial bill stood at FCFA 6,080.4 billion representing an increase of FCFA 264.7 billion of the proposed 2023 budget at the national assembly. The bill has been taken to the Senate for a second scrutiny.
The industrialization drive of Cameroon and efforts to put the country on the path to becoming an emerging economy by 2035 was raised. “Can the objective of industrializing our country be achieved with the inadequate power supply?” Hon. Cavaye Yeguie Dribril questioned.
“Government’s policy option of professionalizing teaching has made it possible to churn out a lot of graduates at the level of higher education. Paradoxically, the shortage of graduates with basic skills is becoming acute. As a result, we now have thousands of graduates without basic skills who cannot be gainfully employed or be self-employed to become stakeholders in our country’s industrialization bid.”
