By DOH JAMES SONKEY
The Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Louis Paul Motaze has stressed on the urgent need for Cameroon to remain resilient from global economic threats said to be causing ravages in several countries whose economy is not diversified. To achieve the challenge, he called on his collaborators to make sure they participate as a team in government’s plans to accelerate the diversification of Cameroon’s economy in order to help the country remain resilient from economic hardship and promote a sustainable and powerful growth.
The Economic Minister was galvanizing his collaborators to overcome the challenge during the Annual Conference of officials of the central and devolved services of the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development crowned by New Year Wishes presentation ceremony to Minister Louis Paul Motaze and Minister Delegate to the Minister of Economy, Yaouba Abdoulaye last January 29 and 30, 2018 at the Yaoundé Conference Centre.
Keeping his speech aside to better expatiate the emergency at hand, Minister Louis Paul Motaze lectured his audience on what could have become of Cameroon’s economy with unplanned events such as the current drop in fuel and cocoa prices, the fight against Boko Haram, the socio-political crisis in the North West and South West region, reduction in public revenue because Cameroon sells less and consume more, if it was not diversified.
The triennial programme, the Minister explained, is the golden plate on which Cameroon intends to step up its resilience efforts to any global economic threat.
The Minister revealed that their roadmap in 2018 will focus mainly on reinforcing what enabled Cameroon’s economy to be resilient through the diversification of the economy such as massive local production of highly imported items such as rice and fish etc in order to cub capital flight.
He added that massive production is not enough, as Cameroon must encourage local transformation of what is produced so as to add value and price to the products.
The Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development will henceforth no longer watch efforts of private enterprises from a distance as it was in the past as it will move towards them to ameliorate their production and manner of work in order to help them conquer more markets which are opened to Cameroon.
After presenting their achievements in 2017 through the successful implementation of four earmarked programmes despite a difficult economic atmosphere in the world, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Jean Tchoffo took a commitment on behalf of the entire staff of their ministry that efforts will be doubled at work to ensure resounding achievements as Cameroon strives to becoming emergent by 2035 as programmed by the President of the Republic, Paul Biya.