Cameroon: 17 public corporations staring closure

Seventeen public corporations and government parastatals in Cameroon are staring at a bleak financial turnaround.

The Cameroonian government is more and more concerned with the indebtedness of the companies in their portfolio.

It has called for “the performance in the management” of State companies during a cabinet meeting held on 25 February 2016 in Yaoundé. Deputy Minister of Finance, Paul Elung Ché, revealed that “the increased indebtedness” of these companies “could, in the middle term, become a risk for the State budget”.

This follows the 2013 report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which showed a 1,800 billion CFA francs overall debt, which must be added to over 329 billion CFA francs of arrears.

This level of debt represents 12.5% of the GDP of the country.

Several measures were taken following the last cabinet meeting, requiring the firms to use less and less of government subsidies.

Prime Minister Philemon Yang recommended the amendment of Law No.99 of 22 December 1999, requiring companies to exercise absolute transparency.

A decision comes at a time when the Cameroonian government is preparing a new plan on privatization..