Business

2, September 2021

Ailing Biya projects economy to grow 4.4 percent in 2022 ⁰

Cameroon’s economy is predicted to grow by 4.4 percent next year while economic activity this year will rebound to 3.4 percent compared with 0.7 percent in 2020, according to the country’s President Paul Biya.

In 2022, based on the assumption that the pandemic will be brought under control and economies will open up, coupled with the fallout from the stimulus measures, Cameroon’s economy is projected to grow by 4.4 percent, with 4.7 percent for the non-oil sector and -1.8 percent for the oil sector. Inflation is expected to be contained at 2 percent, below the community threshold of 3 percent, Biya said in a document addressed to government officials.

The document also outlined the country’s proposed budget for the fiscal year 2022, providing insight into top priorities for the Central African nation.

The post COVID-19 recovery plan aims to ensure the structural transformation of Cameroon’s economy with particular emphasis on the continuation of the import-substitution policy required to strengthen the resilience of the economy, Biya said in the document that was made public on Tuesday.

“Specifically, special emphasis will be placed on finalization and commissioning of major first-generation projects, strengthening of social cohesion and decentralization, reconstruction of crisis-affected regions, particularly the Northwest, Southwest and Far North, organization of the Africa Cup of Nations and continued implementation of Universal Health Coverage,” Biya said.

The fight against security threats with a view to sustainably overcoming the pertinent challenges facing the country will be strengthened, according to the document.

Source: Xinhuanet

12, August 2021

Douala: CEO of ActivSpaces Rebecca Enonchong arrested ⁰

Businesswoman Rebecca Enonchong was arrested yesterday in Douala following an order from a French Cameroun judge at the Court of First Instance in Bonanjo.

The Littoral judiciary is yet to issue a statement detailing the reasons for her arrest. However, people in the know have hinted Cameroon Concord News Douala city reporter that the arrest is part of an ongoing affair in the Enonchong family.

The Enonchong family has also not yet expressed themselves on the subject.

Founder of AppsTech, a company specialize in business management software in more than 40 countries around the world and president of ActivSpaces, one of the main start-up incubators in Cameroon, Rebecca Enonchong is one of the prides of Cameroon internationally.

In 2020, the 53-year-old was named one of the 50 most influential women in Africa by Jeune Afrique magazine.

She is also known for her commitment to the fight against inequality and bad governance. She does not fail, when the opportunity arises, to criticize the management of affairs by the Cameroonian government. Her political opinions have not earned her friends within the Biya governing apparatus.

By Fon Lawrence with files

10, August 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Abandoned CDC-Delmonte workers are stalked by hunger, death ⁰

Deprived of everything under the Franklin Ngoni Njie administration, CDC-Delmonte workers who had been scraping on FCFA 500 FRS per day are now left with nothing. General Manager Ngoni Njie and his Musonge gang have not raised any alarm ever since the war in Southern Cameroons started four years ago as the workers, abandoned in places like Tiko, Mautu, Mondoni, Ekona and Muyuka slid silently into catastrophe.

“They have become like beggars,” said Cameroon Concord News Fako Bureau Chief. CDC-Delmonte workers have been unable to properly feed themselves or their families and many are being forced out of their homes by landlords.

Many of the workers have their tiny arms immobilized by malnutrition, some have kids suffering from tuberculosis and beneath their poorly equipped “Carabout” houses, the dirt floor is slowly being eaten away by the heavy rains in places like Tiko.

The workers are dying like flies and the toll has continued to climb since.

In 2021, at least 37 CDC-Delmonte workers have died across Fako according to Cameroon Concord News sources in the Southern West region.

More than 3000 workers have been left in abject poverty at CDC-Delmonte estates, spread across Southern Cameroons.

The so-called Dion Ngute government is reportedly helpless and lacks the resources to launch any emergency relief program even though conditions remain grim. The CDC-Delmonte workers are dying either from malnutrition or inadequate medical care.

Dozens of men have left their families to find work in French Cameroun, but women and children have remained in houses on the estate controlled by Ambazonia Restoration Forces.

The Biya Francophone regime has done nothing to penalize CDC and Delmonte for abandoning their workers and the workers are dying in a system closer to the 19th century than the 21st.

Established by the Germans after the 1884 Berlin Conference, the CDC plantations now being auctioned to French businessmen by the Francophone political leaders in Yaoundé are among the few examples of large-scale organized agriculture in Southern Cameroons

There are several plantations in the two Cameroons but those in Southern Cameroons are widely seen as having the worst labour conditions. Most of the workers live below the U.N.’s $2 a-day threshold for extreme poverty.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

3, August 2021

CPDM Crime Syndicate: US seizes Cameroon-flagged tanker ⁰

US authorities have seized a Cameroon-flagged small clean products tanker over alleged North Korean sanctions breaches the US Justice Department said in a statement.

A New York federal court entered a judgement of forfeiture over the 2,734 DWT oil products tanker Courageous on Friday.

The US administration alleges the Cameroonian vessel was used for ship-to-ship transfer of oil products with North Korean vessels.

29, July 2021

Cameroon increases its stake in Shelter Afrique with payment of USD 3.5M ⁰

Shelter Afrique has received USD 3,529,801.29 from the Government of Cameroon in additional capital subscription increasing its shareholding by 2% from the current shareholding of 3.61% to the revised shareholding of 5.24%.

Cameroon, which recently acceded to the helm of the Institution at the recently concluded 40th Annual General meeting has indeed demonstrated true leadership and commitment to strengthening of Shelter Afrique’s capital base. The Cameroon Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Her Excellency Madame Celestine Ketcha Courtes was newly appointed as President of the Shelter Afrique General Assembly at the Shelter Afrique AGM which was held in Yaoundé, Cameroon on the 24th June 2021.

In expressing gratitude to the Government of the Republic of Cameroon, The Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer commented after receiving the capital funding as follows:

“We are grateful for the unwavering support of the President of the AGM Bureau, Her Excellency Madame Celestine Ketcha Courtes and for the instrumental role she played in ensuring this capital commitment is honoured. We are confident that Shelter Afrique will benefit immensely form her leadership as the President of the 40th Annual General Meeting,” Mr Chimphondah said.

Capital Calls

In 2013 and 2017 Shelter Afrique shareholders signed up to recapitalize the Company by way of additional equity subscriptions and has since received a total of USD $96 million dollars from various shareholders.

“Even with the COVID-19 pandemic, Cameroon has shown willingness to sustain its support for Shelter Afrique. This is a demonstrable strong vote of confidence by Cameroon in Board and Management the Company. This capital injection will go a long way in supporting the Company’s ambitious plans to drive substantial capital investment into the low-cost housing sector,” Mr. Chimphondah said.

“We also wish to thank several other shareholders such as Kenya, Nigeria, Mali, Namibia, Rwanda Uganda, Togo, Zimbabwe Morocco, Lesotho, and Swaziland for their positive response to the call for recapitalization” the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive said.

24, July 2021

China imposes sanctions on US citizens, rights groups under new law ⁰

China said on Friday that it has imposed counter-sanctions on U.S. individuals including former U.S. commerce secretary Wilbur Ross in response to recent U.S. sanctions on Chinese officials in Hong Kong.

The sanctions are the first imposed by China under its new anti-foreign sanction law, passed in June, and come days before U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman is due to visit China amid deeply strained ties.

China also imposed unspecified “reciprocal counter-sanctions” on current and former representatives of a range of organisations, including the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

Other institutions named included the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the International Republican Institute, Human Rights Watch (HRW), and the Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council (HKDC).

“The U.S. side concocted the so-called Hong Kong business advisory, baselessly smeared Hong Kong’s commercial environment, and illegally sanctioned Chinese officials in Hong Kong,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“These actions seriously violated international law and the basic principles of international relations, and seriously interfered in China’s internal affairs,” the ministry said.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told a regular news briefing that the United States was “undeterred” by China’s move, which came after Washington last week issued its business advisory for Hong Kong and imposed sanctions on more Chinese officials over Beijing’s crackdown on democracy in the former British colony.

“These actions are the latest examples of how Beijing punishes private citizens, companies and civil society organizations as a way to send political signals,” Psaki said, adding that they illustrated the very risks about which the U.S. government had warned.

Ross could not be immediately reached for comment.

It was the second time this year that China has imposed sanctions on officials who served under former President Donald Trump, who adopted a tough line on Beijing and confronted it over trade, business practices, human rights and other issues.

Around the time Biden was sworn in as president in January, China announced sanctions against outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and 27 other top Trump officials.

The Biden administration called that move “unproductive and cynical.”

Biden has sought to rally allies and partners to help counter what the White House says are China’s increasingly coercive economic and foreign policies.

But U.S. officials say Sherman’s trip over the weekend to China, where she is due to meet Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, is an effort to ensure that competition between the two powers does not spill over into conflict.

Some of the groups hit by Beijing largely dismissed any negative impact of the sanctions. The HKDC said on Twitter that being targeted by China’s ruling Communist Party was the “best validation” of its fight for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement.

“HKDC and Six Individuals in the US Recognized by PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Human Rights Advocacy”

Human Rights Watch’s China director Sophie Richardson, who was sanctioned by China by name on Friday, called the move “hollow.”

“These are diplomatic tantrums that are designed to distract attention away from Beijing’s complicity in crimes against humanity,” she said, referring to China’s alleged human rights abuses in its western region of Xinjiang. China has dismissed the accusations.

(REUTERS)

17, July 2021

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Biya regime sees 2021 growth coming close to pre-pandemic Levels ⁰

Cameroon expects its economy to rebound this year, with the growth rate coming close to pre-pandemic levels.

The government sees output expanding 3.4% in 2021, compared with 0.7% last year, Cameroonian Economy Minister Alamine Ousmane Mey said in an interview in Ivory Coast’s economic capital, Abidjan. The central African economy grew 3.7% in 2019.

As part of its 2030 strategy, Cameroon is focused on “the structural transformation of its economy toward industrialization, more integration, and growth that is more inclusive, sustainable and green,” he said.

The fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has weighed on the country’s finances. President Paul Biya called for a 13% increase to proposed spending in the 2021 budget to 5.5 trillion CFA francs ($10 billion) as his administration seeks to pay down debt and respond to Covid-19. In a bid to cut costs, Cameroon also sold 685 million euros of 11-year securities last month to refinance more expensive debt issued in 2015.

Amid its fiscal challenges, an audit by Cameroon’s Supreme Court found there was corruption and mismanagement involving 180 billion CFA francs ($326 million) spent on the pandemic response in the period up to Dec. 30, according to court papers. The International Monetary Fund last year provided the country with $382 million of emergency funding to deal with the virus.

A parliament hearing scheduled to discuss the audit was canceled last month, as civil society and opposition groups asked for accountability. The IMF itself called for an independent audit before disbursing funding for a new program.

Mey declined to comment on the corruption probe.

Cocoa Control

Cameroon trails neighbors, Ghana and Ivory Coast, as the world’s fifth-biggest cocoa grower. The two countries, which account for nearly 70% of global production, have joined forces to secure a pay rise for their farmers by charging companies from Cargill Inc to Nestle SA a premium of $400 for every ton of the bean.

Alex Assanvo, the new executive secretary of Ivory Coast-Ghana Cocoa Initiative, said last month the organization could eventually open up to new members in a bid to exert more control over prices.

“Cameroon continues to develop partnerships to ensure that farmers are the main beneficiaries of this activity in terms of value chain integration and transformation,” Mey said in response to a question about plans to join the initiative. “When the time comes, Cameroon will make the right choice.”

Source: Bloomberg

15, July 2021

WTO convenes trade ministers to net fisheries deal ⁰

The World Trade Organization kicked off a ministerial meeting Thursday aimed at breathing life into drawn-out negotiations towards banning subsidies that favour overfishing, but numerous sticking points remain.

Before the meeting, WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala voiced cautious optimism that trade ministers from the organisation’s 164 member states could finally move towards clinching a “historic” agreement after 20 years of negotiations.

“While no one expects a miracle, the meeting represents a golden opportunity to bring the negotiations within striking distance of a deal,” she said in an editorial published Wednesday in Project Syndicate.

“A failure to do so would jeopardise the ocean’s biodiversity and the sustainability of the fish stocks on which so many depend for food and income.”

The talks aim to ban subsidies that contribute to illegal and unregulated fishing, as well as to overfishing, threatening the sustainability of fish stocks and the industry.

While fishing should in theory be held in check by the environment, with low fish stocks pushing up costs, subsidies can keep unprofitable fleets at sea.

It is widely agreed that action is needed to protect a crucial resource that millions of people depend on for their livelihoods.

In 2017, the Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that one third of global fish stocks were overfished.

Global fisheries subsidies are meanwhile estimated at between $14 billion and $54 billion a year, according to the WTO.

But two decades of negotiations have stumbled over a range of issues, including a UN demand that developing countries and the poorest nations receive special treatment.

After missing the last UN deadline to reach an agreement by December 2020, talks have intensified in recent months however.

– ‘Historic’ –

Okonjo-Iweala, who took the reins of the global trade body in March, has made clinching the long-awaited fisheries deal by the end of this year a priority.

Thursday’s meeting, which is taking place virtually due to Covid restrictions, is focusing on a draft text presented in May by Colombian ambassador Santiago Wills, who chairs the WTO fisheries subsidies negotiations.

Okonjo-Iweala voiced optimism that “marathon discussions” on the text, which according to Wills proposes “compromise language” in a range of areas, would succeed.

“We are on the cusp of forging an agreement at the WTO that is historic in more ways than one,” she said, stressing that a deal would also show that “members can come together and act on issues of the global commons.”

Reaching any kind of an agreement at the WTO can be hard, because all decisions require a consensus among all member states.

But observers said there had been a clear boost in momentum towards finding a deal.

“We have never had more political attention on the issue, (nor) the degree of political attention from a director general, and the degree of commitment from WTO members to really advanced this text,” Alice Tipping of the International Institute for Sustainable Development told reporters in Geneva.

– Special treatment? –

But a number of sticking points remain and NGOs warn against rushing to the finish line at any cost.

“It’s critical that WTO members do not sacrifice environmental outcomes for the sake of speed when negotiating a fisheries subsidies agreement,” Isabel Jarrett of The Pew Charitable Trusts told AFP.

One of the main stumbling blocks has been a UN demand that developing countries and the poorest nations receive so-called special and differential treatment, or SDT.

While special treatment for the poorest countries is widely accepted, demands from some self-identified developing countries to be exempt from subsidy constraints has proved difficult to swallow.

Many of the major fishing nations are considered developing countries by WTO, including China, which has one of the world’s biggest fishing fleets.

An EU official told reporters this week that a declaration from China that it was prepared to assume “full commitments without claiming SDT” would be “very helpful” to the talks.

There is also disagreement over how broad the fisheries deal should be.

There appears to be consensus around excluding fish-farming and continental fishing from subsidy constraints.

But some developing countries are calling for fuel subsidies, including through tax deduction schemes like those widely used in the EU, to be included in the deal — something the bloc flatly rejects.

Source: AFP

2, July 2021

After Biya-Dangote Meeting: CPDM Crime Syndicate threatens CIMENCAM with closure over prices rises ⁰

Luc Magloire, the Minister of Commerce, has written to Cimenteries du Cameroun (CIMENCAM) threatening to close its production facilities if it raises its prices without approval. In the letter the minister accused the subsidiary of LafargeHolcim of increasing its wholesale prices and of preparing to do so again without consent, according to the Ecofin Agency. Prices have reportedly risen by up to 8% in some places.

Friction occurred between the government and CIMENCAM in 2020 when LafargeHolcim renewed the term of Benoît Galichet as the chief executive officer of its local subsidiary. The government, a large minority shareholder of the company, opposed the decision. The government and the cement producer have also disagreed previously over the price of cement.

Source: Global Cement News

1, July 2021

Biya regime issues EUR685 million eurobond with 5.95% coupon ⁰

Cameroon has issued a EUR685 million ($812.20 million) eurobond with 5.95% coupon, proceeds from which will help refinance a 2015 eurobond, the finance ministry said in a statement.

The bond, with an 11-year maturity, was oversubscribed, with an orderbook of EUR2.258 billion, it said.

($1 = 0.8434 euros)

Source: Reuters