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President Jacob Zuma appointed Pravin Gordhan as finance minister on Sunday, in a dramatic U-turn that gave South Africa its third finance chief in a week after a selling frenzy in the markets. The shock announcement restoring Gordhan to the post sent the rand surging nearly 5 percent on Sunday evening, but failed to quell a tide of criticism of the president. "This is reckless by President Zuma, he is playing Russian roulette with the South African economy," opposition Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane said. Zuma sacked Nhlanhla Nene from the ministry late on Wednesday, sparking a wave of criticism and financial turmoil, and replaced him with the relatively unknown lawmaker David van Rooyen.
The removal of Nene, who was keen to rein in government spending in Africa's most industrialized economy, sent the rand currency to record lows, sparked a sell-off in bank stocks and sent yields in both local and dollar-denominated debt soaring. The JSE All-share index lost 169.6 billion rand ($10.68 billion) between Thursday and Friday. "Critics would say having a finance minister serving only two days doesn't bode well for the reputation of South Africa," said Mohammed Nalla, head of research at Nedbank Capital.
"International investors are probably thinking: Why didn’t the president make a much more considered decision in the first place?" Many economists had questioned van Rooyen's ability to steady an economy hammered by falling prices for commodity exports that range from coal to gold. Nene's reluctance to rubber-stamp an ambitious plan to build a number of nuclear power stations to ease severe electricity shortages, a project that might cost as much as $100 billion, is also seen as contributing to his downfall. "On the 9th of December 2015, I announced the appointment of a new Minister of Finance, Mr David van Rooyen," Sunday's statement from the presidency said.
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The night of Thursday, December 10 to Friday, December 11, 2015 was certainly very long for Senators and cabinet ministers who took part in a plenary session consecrated to the adoption of the 2016 Finance Bill of the Republic of Cameroon. The Finance Bill which contains the 2016 State budget balanced in income and expenditure at FCFA 4,234.7 billion was adopted by the Senate during a more than eight-hour long plenary sitting that spilled over to about 6:45 am, Friday December 11, 2015, leading to the endorsement of the bill.
But before the adoption of the bill, cabinet ministers took turns to the rostrum of the Senate to respond to several questions within the framework of controlling government action. One of Senate’s Vice Presidents, Paul Tchatchouang who opened a series of questions to members of government quizzed the Minister of Finance on what government is doing to improve on the tourism sector in the wake of falling oil prices in order to boost State revenue. Alamine Ousmane Mey, in his response, stated that government is leaving no stone unturned in her quest to develop the tourism sector in the country. He said the 13th session of the National Tourism Board chaired on Thursday December 10, 2015 by the Prime Minister has instituted accompanying standards to boost tourism potentials and hence increase revenue source.
On the payment of indemnities for those whose property have been damaged in the course of the construction of Yaounde-Douala express road as was asked by Senator Jean-Marie Mama, Finance Minister assured that compensation will be paid to them progressively. On whether the Finance Bill reflects the aspiration of grassroots people, Alamine Ousmane Mey reiterated that the proposed budget which was drafted with instructions from the President of the Republic, gives priority to poverty alleviation and attenuating high cost of living by increasing allocation of investment budget to growth-driven sectors like energy, agriculture, infrastructure amongst others.
Transport Minister, Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo’o again was interrogated on the situation of the national airliner, Camair-Co. He told Senators that two audits are to be carried out by CONSUPE and an international firm (Boeing Consulting) as a prerequisite move to rejuvenate the company. After the autopsy of Camair-Co is completed, FCFA 30 billion will then be pumped in to resuscitate the ailing air carrier, he said. Other questions centered on road infrastructure, agriculture, programming of investment projects as well as civic education and moralization.
(Cameroon Tribune)
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The Cameroonian Minister of Small and Medum Size Enterprises(SME), Laurent Serge Etoundi Ngoa, officially opened on 5 December 2015 in Douala, the 4th edition of PmExchange, the SME show organised by Entreprises du Cameroun (ECAM), an employer’s group focused on the development and promotion of SMEs.
In total, 150 exhibitors are participating in PmExchange 2015, including Moroccan and French companies.
In addition to the trade fair, PmExchange 2015, which ends on 9 December, is marked by thematic workshops and B to B meetings between economic operator
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The second edition of the Regional Economic Outlook of the International Monetary Fund, IMF, has been published, with projections revealing that growth in Cameroon will remain at plus 5 per cent in 2015. The report says though the environment in Sub-Saharan Africa is deteriorating with figures revealing that growth will remain at below 4 per cent, Cameroon has succeeded to stand shocks by diversifying its economy. The IMF report states that the oil price drop is now significant. The situation is compounded by the difficulty to source cheap funding in the international capital market. Security risks with many countries of the sub-region facing the challenge of terrorists threats, have again come to the fore.
Notwithstanding, Cameroon since the Spring 2015 report, published in April this year, has been able to face headwings. Experts at the Yaounde ceremony yesterday December 7, 2015 to present the IMF report attribute the resilience to Cameroon’s ability to diversify its economy, thus it does not rely on oil exports. The Resident Representative, African Department of the IMF, Kadima Kalonji, states that; “However, public finances have been hurt and external position also has deteriorated and because of that, we are recommending various measures to allow the country to continue on its path towards emerging market studies, taking into account the negative wings.” He explained that the economic environment in April was gathering negative wings, which now have worsened.
He stressed that the “environment has deteriorated, with countries of the region expected to embrace adjustments that can possibly face risks in the best possible way.” “Whatever we collect in terms of resources, we make sure that they are used efficiently and invested to the satisfaction of all the stakeholders,” stressed Finance Minister, Alamine Ousmane Mey. The chair of the day was responding to worries on whether Cameroon should continue to raise its debt ceiling. The IMF recommendation of optimising borowing faced debates, with the Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Louis Paul Motaze stating that Cameroon was focusing on sustainable borowing. “Yes, we will borrow, but we will focus on life-changing projects,” Alamine Ousmane Mey said. Cameroon’s balance of payment reveals that agriculture is a major source of revenue and investing in infrastructure through developing in agricultural activities will enable the State to continue to use its borowing wisely, produce, generate revenue and pay back debts. “External borrowing needs to be done in a way that will ensure the sustainability of debts. It should also be done in a way that is benefitting growth the most. Projects that will be financed need to be those that have high growth dividends which will allow the repayment of the debt over time,” stressed IMF’s Kadima Kalonji.
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A delegation of 24 British businessmen on a mission in Cameroon, were on Tuesday met by Prime Minister Philemon Yang, APA noted .
Addressing the press at the end of their meeting, the British High Commissioner to Cameroon, John Brian Olley, said that the investors were particularly interested in agriculture, education, energy, infrastructure, mining, health “and especially the banking sector.”
The same investors had already visited Cameroon from 28 to 30 April, 2015 in the wake of a conference on investment that was held a month earlier.
Relations between Cameroon and Great Britain date back to the 19th century, when British traders were dominant in the commercial activity along the West African coast.
Diplomatic relations between the UK and Cameroon are generally presented as “good” by both parties as the British presence in the country is felt particularly through companies like Shell (petroleum), Guinness (beer industry) or the Standard Chartered Bank but also through human rights, pro-democracy and environmental NGOs.
In recent years, the UK, through the European Development Fund (EDF) contributed annually between CFA 6 billion and 7 billion CFA francs to fund development projects in Cameroon
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The Agropoles project from the ministry of Economy, whose aim is to create income-generating activities in rural areas, and increase agricultural and livestock production in order to limit foodstuffs imports, has just launched the Mpagne plantain Agropole, in the town of the same name located in the Eastern region of Cameroon.
Sponsored by the Société d’Actions Prioritaires Intégrées de Développement Agricole au Cameroun (Sapidacam - Company of Integrated Priority Actions for Agricultural Development of Cameroon), this agropole represents an investment of FCfa 1.8 billion, we learnt from official sources. The goal is, through this project, to develop the production of plantain in Mpagne and the surrounding area, thanks to farms which will cover 2700 hectares in total. There are plans to also build 20 km of roads, to facilitate the removal of products and access to the farms.
According to the developers of the Mpagne plantain agropole and officials at the ministry of Economy, this project will enable the creation of approximately 500 direct jobs and over 3,000 temporary jobs during peak season.
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