During a press conference in the presence of six ministers, the government moved to the phase of explanations and justifications for the increase in the prices of petroleum products, which occurred five days ago. According to the government, these price readjustments had become inevitable and even beneficial for the country’s economy.
2 mins
With our correspondent in Yaoundé, Polycarp Essomba
This is Louis Paul Motaze, the Minister of Finance of Cameroon who revealed it: the significant abandonment of petroleum product subsidies saves nearly 1,000 billion FCFA for the State. Enough to consider more calmly the financing of the projects and infrastructures that the country needs.
“ Everyone understands that with 1,000 billion, you end with the problem of the Douala-Yaoundé highway, you end with the Yaoundé bypass project, you end with the construction of a dam that we want to launch, the Kikot dam », declared the minister.
However, indicated the Minister of Commerce, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, subsidy policy is not completely abandoned. 180 billion are therefore included in the state budget for the 2024 financial year, we learned.
The minister also expressed his annoyance about certain “ rumors “. “ I would really like to put an end to a certain rumor that we tend to mischievously spread among public opinion by claiming that through this salutary measure for the national economy of readjusting fuel prices at the pump, it is an abandonment of populations by the State. This is completely false. I would like this to be clearly understood “, he said.
Finally, the Minister of Transport, Jean-Ernest Masséna Bibehe, whose sector is most directly impacted by these price increases, suggested that negotiations are underway with unions and various social partners for a control transport prices. Negotiated increases should therefore take place in the near future.
It remains to be seen how the social partners and Cameroonians as a whole will receive these explanations.