Fiscal Consolidation and Inclusive Growth DPO

closed

The operation aims to support Cameroon’s efforts to adjust to a substantial decline in oil prices which has precipitated a regional economic crisis and diminished the country’s prospects for growth and poverty reduction. Cameroon, a lower middle income country with a population of about 23 million, is the largest economy in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC). The region is experiencing a difficult economic crisis precipitated by the steep fall in the price of oil, which comprised 76 percent of CEMAC’s exports in 2014. The objective of the operation is to support the Government of Cameroon (GoC) in implementing structural reforms to support fiscal adjustment as well as reforms to boost competitiveness and mitigate economic vulnerability. This operation, in the amount of US$200 million, is the first of three Development Policy Financing (DPF) in a programmatic series. The proposed program is aligned with the GoC’s reform program and with the World Bank Group Country (WBG) Partnership Framework for FY17-FY21. The DPF series supports structural reforms that will restore fiscal stability while improving competitiveness and protecting the poor through fiscal adjustment. Reforms would support increased productivity by removing bottlenecks in the infrastructure sector, and higher efficiency and more equitable access to social services, by improving service delivery in health, education and scaling up social protection. They will also address inefficient procurement practices and weak management of public enterprises. The series is organized around three pillars: (1) improving fiscal sustainability and public sector management; (2) improving financial sustainability and efficiency of key infrastructure to enhance competitiveness; and (3) improving social services and scaling up social protection to reduce vulnerability among the poor. The policy areas to be addressed under the DPF include: (i) revenue mobilization; (ii) wage bill management; (iii) public procurement reforms; (iv) SOE governance; (v) energy sector reforms; (vi) road maintenance; (vii) trade facilitation at the port of Douala; (viii) health services delivery; (viii) education sector reforms; and (ix) social protection.