By DOH JAMES SONKEY
Officials of the central and devolved services of the Ministry of Finance have been challenged to work towards the reduction of budget deficit in 2019 and to drive the conversation on government budgetary actions.
The double challenge was given to them last January 25, 2019 at the Yaounde Conference Centre by Finance Minister, Louis Paul Motaze as he chaired the closing ceremony of the two-day annual conference of his ministry and received New Year wishes from his central and external collaborators alongside the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Finance, Yaouba Abdoulaye.
After listening to two main exposes on the themes “budget balance; stakes and perspectives by the Director General of Budget at the Ministry of Finance, Cyril Alo’o Edou and “budget deficit, optimality and sustainability” by the Head of Prediction Division at the Ministry of Finance, Gabriel Ngakoumda, participants concluded that while it is difficult for a State to have budget balance, it is better to define the concept as sustainable deficit because it can easily be handled.
In his expose, Cyril Alo’o Edou disclosed that in 2016, Cameroon’s budget deficit deterioration reached 6.1% of the Public Investment Budget. The situation ameliorated in 2017 as the deficit stood at 4.9% of PIB thanks to the implementation of the economic and financial programme with the International Monetary Fund, IMF.
He concluded that special measures ought to be taken to attain the projected target of 2.6% in 2018 and 2.1% deficit in 2019.
Prof Desire Avom, an economist said, budget deficit in Cameroon has two main causes; vulnerability of the local economy which is not well diversified and the management of public finances.
Among the achievements recorded by the Ministry of Finance in 2018 was revenue collection by the Directorate General of Customs and the Directorate General of Taxation which exceeded projections.
While the Directorate General of Taxation collected FCFA 1913 billion against 1912 billion target, the Directorate General of Customs raised for the State treasury, FCFA 802 billion thereby going beyond a target of FCFA 800 billion.
Added to these was debt servicing which was ensured and government’s intensified efforts to cleanse the state payroll of ghost workers which came to reinforce the proper management of the state payroll through the physical head count exercise.
Before departing from the Yaounde Conference Centre after two days of brainstorming on the theme “budgetary balance; stakes, challenges and perspectives,” officials of the central and devolved services of the Ministry of Finance were upbeat on handling the huge task lying ahead of them in 2019 after being galvanized by their Minister, Louis Paul Motaze when he asked them to be proactive for better performance.