REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON Peace-Work-Fatherland
PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE SECRETARIAT GENERAL
REPUBLICIQUE DU CAMEROUN Paix-Travail-Patrie
SERVICES DU PREMIER MINISTRE SECRETARIAT GENERAL
# PRESS RELEASE FOLLOWING CABINET MEETING OF THURSDAY, 28 JANUARY 2021
The Prime Minister, Head of Government, His Excellency Joseph DION NGUTE, today Thursday, 28 January 2021, at 10 a.m. in the Auditorium of the Prime Minister’s Office, chaired a Cabinet Meeting attended by Ministers of State, Ministers, Ministers-Delegate and Secretaries of State.
The agenda included the following items:
- Statement by the Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Development on “the levers of the structural transformation of the Cameroonian economy in view of the National Development Strategy 2020-2030”;
- Statement by the Minister of Finance on “the operational implementation of the import substitution policy for the 2021 financial year”;
- Update from the Minister of Public Health on “the Situation of the Health Pandemic and COVID-19 Vaccination Plan in Cameroon”;
- Report of the Minister of State Property, Surveys and Land Tenure on “the state of the process of energy project compensation files”
In his statement, the Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Development pointed out that the structural transformation of the national economy is one of the major pillars of the National Development Strategy 2020-2030. It involves an orientation of government action towards the development of manufacturing and service industries, strengthening of agricultural productivity and production with a focus on certain higher value-added industries.
With regard to the levers enabling the structural transformation of the Cameroonian economy, the Minister stressed the importance of strategic choices and the targeting of state interventions, the adoption of a budgetary policy supported by financial allocations in line with the objectives and the introduction of a renewed system of incentives for the promotion of enterprises.
In addition, structural reforms must be pursued, as well as the mobilisation of actors and financial resources through public-private partnerships.
For his part, the Minister of Finance noted that import substitution policy is an essential component of the structural transformation of the economy. From an operational point of view, this policy is laid down in the 2021 Finance Law, through the establishment of a Fund to support and develop priority agricultural industries such as rice, maize, milk and fish.
With a view to strengthening the local production of convenience goods, Government has provided for various exemptions from taxes and customs duties on inputs, materials and equipment dedicated to agriculture, fishing, animal husbandry and the pharmaceutical industry. At the same time, measures have been taken to protect the growing segments of the local industrial fabric from foreign competition.