The member states of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community CEMAC have not always implemented reforms that contribute to improving the business climate, diversifying economies and strengthening human capital, important factors in increasing productivity.
This is what emerges from the 2019 annual report, from the Economic and Financial Reform Program of CEMAC (Pref-CEMAC), presented by the permanent secretary of said program, Michel-Cyr Djiena Wembou, during a lively press conference on September 3 in Brazzaville.
Pillar three devoted, in fact, to structural reforms is the one on which efforts remain to be made in terms of implementation, the permanent secretary said. Because only 37.9% of the actions to be carried out until 2021 have been completed. Regarding the section dedicated to strengthening economic diversification and developing the private sector, only 36.9% of the actions were carried out. Regarding the general objective in relation to improving the business climate, 41% of measures planned against the 2021 target have been achieved. Regarding alternative forms of financing savings, barely 33.9% of the planned actions have been carried out.
“Much remains to be done on this pillar, which is central to the transformation of CEMAC’s economies. In addition to the measures provided for in this reform program, it would be good if the obligation of local processing of more than 85% of logs, which applies in almost all the countries of the CEMAC zone, be extended to all other materials. first exploited at the level of our sub-region ”, Michel-Cyr Djiena Wembou indicated.
According to him, economic diversification will only be effective if heads of state prioritize improving non-oil budget revenues rather than reducing public spending. “We cannot talk about diversification if we do not improve the quality of public spending,” the Permanent Secretary highlighted.
Systematize the orientation of the cyclical contract of budgetary policies, reform the frameworks of budgetary processes in order to avoid the accumulation of arrears, better manage the public debt (internal and external) to finance the economies then, solve the problem of energy to promote local transformation and the creation of value chains are also among the challenges that policies will have to address.
In addition, with regard to regional integration, aimed at accelerating the physical and commercial integration of the community, the report indicates 54% of actions carried out. The acceleration of the construction of the common market is experiencing an achievement rate of 64% compared to the 2021 target.
“We can see it in the markets of the sub-region where most of the food products consumed come from neighboring countries. These are food products from Cameroon ending up in the markets of Congo or Gabon, cement from the Congo ending up in Cameroon, etc. », Said the permanent secretary.
In terms of monetary policy and the financial system, we report the rebuilding of foreign exchange reserves, which rose from FCFA 3,776.7 billion in 2019 to FCFA 4,371.5 billion in 2020, an increase of 16%.
Let us recall that the Pref-CEMAC was set up by the heads of state, to face the severe economic crisis which has hit the countries of this community since mid-2014.
