On May 4, 2020, the Board of Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) granted a new loan of CFAF 135 billion to Cameroon. Money that will be entirely devoted to the fight against COVID-19, said the Minister of Finance, in an interview with state radio, CRTV, on May 6, 2020.
“We have a crisis which is first of all a health crisis. The objective of Cameroon, like that of all countries, is first to treat people. And we need enough resources for that. So that means that the person on the front line when it comes to setting the objectives for the use of this money is the Minister of Health,” Motaze said.
He adds that, “We will work with him to tell him how things are going and what he should report to us. You will understand that if a bank loans you money because you told it that you want to build the house, the bank would like to make sure that you did not take this money to go and make a farm.”
The Finance Minister has promised total judicious use of the funds as prescribed by the IMF. “We must report regularly to the IMF on the use of the money. But the IMF does not tell us how to use it health-wise. We are the ones who say, these are our goals, this is what we want to do, “said the countries banker.
Louis Paul Motaze also highlighted the good relations between Cameroon and the Bretton Woods institution. “We are a member of the IMF, we have no problem with the IMF. We work with the IMF whether we are on a program (structural adjustment) or not … So we have good relations with the IMF, “he said.
Motaze’s interview on CRTV was a response to some observers who had a contrary view of the IMF move, fearing that funds could be swindled and not injected into the fight against Covid 19 as the Bretton Woods establishment instructed.
