The African Development Bank Group’s Board of Directors has approved a loan of €180 million to the Republic of Cameroon to finance the first phase of the government’s Competitiveness and Economic Growth Support Programme (PACCE).
PACCE is the first of a three-year programmatic general budget support operations to be implemented from 2017 to 2019 in order to shore up public finances in the wake of dwindling oil prices exasperated by security and related humanitarian challenges within the country and across the CEMAC region.
“The program aims at preserving macroeconomic and budgetary stability and contributing to laying the foundations for robust, resilient and inclusive economic growth by improving the public finance management framework and strengthening the governance and competitiveness of productive sectors (transport, energy and agriculture),” Ousmane Dore, Director General of the Bank’s Central Africa Hub said while presenting the project to the Board.
The reform package of this operation is organised around two interdependent and complementary components: (i) streamlining the public finance management framework; and (ii) strengthening the governance and competitiveness of productive sectors. Both components are expected to help streamline the public the finance management framework, reinforce macroeconomic stability, create fiscal space, as well as prioritize public investment projects and stimulate growth.
Furthermore, the program’s focus on enhancement of governance and competitiveness of productive sectors is expected to reduce production costs, particularly in transport and electricity. This will help attract private investments and stimulate growth through the development of agro-industry and fiscal consolidation measures.
Source: Afdb
