This was during the joint review of the cooperation portfolio between Cameroon and the World Bank that opened on 16 May 2023 in Yaoundé, under the chairmanship of the Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT), Paul Tasong, in the presence of the Minister of Finance, Louis Paul MOTAZE, the Minister Delegate to the Presidency in charge of Public contracts , Ibrahim Talba Malla and the Deputy Director of Operations of the World Bank in Cameroon, Keiko Kubota.

The joint review of the cooperation portfolio between Cameroon and the World Bank, to hold from 16 to 17 May 2023, aimed to take stock of actions undertaken and to carry out a new diagnosis of the cooperation portfolio, in order to formulate a roadmap to be implemented as soon as the work is completed. Taking stock of the cooperation portfolio between Cameroon and the World Bank, the Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Paul Tasong, revealed that the portfolio’s current commitments total 2,587 million US dollars, or approximately CFAF 1,552 billion, for 19 active projects, with an average age of 4 years. In terms of performance, the cumulative disbursement rate is 22.6%. The balance of undisbursed commitments amounts to 2,000 million dollars, or approximately 1,200 billion CFA francs, which should be disbursed over the next three years to prevent these resources from being forfeited. “In this situation, it is imperative for all of us gathered here, to identify actions to be implemented to improve the performance of ongoing projects, and thus that of the cooperation portfolio in general”, emphasised MINDEL/MINEPAT.

For the World Bank’s Deputy Director of Operations, Keiko Kubota, the portfolio’s performance is satisfactory overall. However, emphasis should be laid on improving disbursements, which would speed up the execution of ongoing projects. Among the obstacles to the proper execution of development projects in the portfolio are delays in obtaining expropriation and compensation decrees for people affected by project works; the low maturation of projects in the portfolio; the low level of disbursement of undisbursed committed balances (UCBs), to name but a few. Mr Paul Tasong reminded that the execution of ongoing commitments is taking place in a context marked by the multiplication of security and climatic crises in certain regions of the country hosting several projects. “All these issues challenge us and call on us to strengthen resilience and early recovery activities for the benefit of the populations so sorely afflicted”, he added. The joint review of the Cameroon-World Bank cooperation portfolio was attended by officials from the public administrations concerned, World Bank officials and project coordinators.