CI-NEWS

BEAC Report on Cameroon: Exports to witness 40% drop.

2020-09-07

No: 529

BEAC Report on Cameroon: Exports to witness 40% drop.

The Bank of Central African States, BEAC, has released the report of a study it conducted on the economic situation of the Central African region. Forecasts presented in the report indicate that Cameroon would, this 2020, record a 40 per cent drop in annual exports. The report of the study which has been led by a top official in the Directorate of Studies, Research and Statistics at BEAC, Francis Ghislain Ngomba Bodi, was entitled: “What is the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in Cameroon?”

According to the report, the sharp drop in exports is as blamed on the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic. To be more specific, Francis Ghislain Ngomba Bodi and his team hold that the novel Coronavirus pandemic exposed Cameroon to five major shocks. First, it exposed the country to an epidemiological shock, with several persons contracting the virus. The immediate response to this was the three-T (Track, Test and Treat) Module established by the State. Second, the pandemic had a severe impact on the supply chain, given that borders were closed here and there. The other shock imposed by the pandemic was on the oil sector. The nation happens to among those who depend on oil. A drop in world prices was further compounded by a drop in demand as factories and countries were forced to shut down when the pandemic just broke. The domestic and foreign demand powers were also weakened as the global economy was affected.

Impact on budget

In view of the multifaceted shocks, the BEAC study warns that the country risks losing up to: “six per cent of the GDP in 2020, with a drop of about 12 per cent in consumption and up to 40 per cent drop in exports.” It further cautions the situation may have a heavy impact on the budget. “The budget deficit will worsen and will likely double. Private investment may not return to its pre-crisis level before the end of 2021,” it states.

To address the looming danger, BEAC has, in the report, prescribed that targeted support be given the industrial sector. “This direct support to companies and indirect support to household will keep demand afloat. It will require a sharp increase in public debt, the burden of which will have to be mitigated by a massive purchase of public securities by the central-bank. This is the prerequisite for a strong economic rebound in 2021-2022,” part of the report reads.

Public Finance Management:

150 municipal officials empowered

The series s of training which has lasted over a week rounded off last Saturday, August 29, 2020, at Edea in the Littoral region of the country. The over 120 former trainees, who completed the course in 2019, showed up from across the ten regions to refresh themselves. Three municipal councils, notably Douala II, Edea I and Nkongsamba II, were the new names in the list. In July 2020, some 224 revenue collectors and several other council workers undertook the same training.

The training has been developed and offered by the National Participatory Development Programme, PNDP. It is intended to build the capacities of local councils, in the use and management of the new accounting software, Sim-ba, introduced in 2012. The government observed that the switch to this accounting software was still at about 10 per cent. A situation it frowned at.

To remedy the situation, PNDP, in partnership with the Ministries of finance and decentralization, agreed to rigorously pursue a mass training to help municipal councils upgrade.

Good governance

The delegation of trainers frowned at councils who failed to meet up with the training requirements. During the training, council officials were required to begin managing their accounts using the Sim-ba software. Based on the performances of the different learners, observations and corrections were made, with the coaches paying more attention on transmitting fresh knowledge in the form of advice. They used adult-friendly teaching methods. A key challenge raised by some of the participants is that some of the councillors who took the training had been voted out of office and they unfortunately, left with the knowledge acquired. This notwithstanding, the new municipal executives said they were excited to have learned how to use the software. “The training will help me perform better in managing the accounts of our councils,” one of the participants said. Sim-ba is public finance management software developed to facilitate an easy, transparent and up-to-date management of public resources. It seeks to concretize government’s ambition for «public institutions to be part of the principles of good governance, through the improvement of the quality of public expenditure, the control of the sources of mobilization of financial resources, the production of budgetary and counting information and an up-to-date financial management”.

Culled from Cameroon Insider

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BEAC Report on Cameroon: Exports to witness 40% drop.