The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has formally agreed on a name for a planned common currency set to be launched in 2020.

“ECO was adopted as the name of the ECOWAS single currency,” representatives of the 15-member group agreed in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Saturday.

“Afri” and “Kola” had been other names suggested that were rejected by the members.

An ECOWAS statement said the aim was a “gradual approach to the single currency starting with countries that meet the convergent criteria.”

Currently, eight ECOWAS countries – Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo – jointly use the West African CFA franc, while the seven others, including Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, have their own separate currencies.

The idea of a common currency for the West African region was first mooted almost 30 years ago in the hope of boosting cross border trade and economic development.

The ECOWAS statement said the currency would be based on a flexible exchange rate regime, coupled with a monetary policy framework focused on inflation targeting.

Member states should pursue appropriate policies and structural reforms that will sustain accelerated growth and the structural transformation of their economies, it added.

The new “ECO” currency for West Africa has been compared to the European Union’s “Euro” currency.

Nigeria, which accounts for most of the region’s economic output, is the powerhouse of West Africa with over 190 population and the vastest economy.

“It is difficult to see Nigeria agree to being in a monetary union if it is not the boss,” said economist Ndongo Samba Sylla from the Dakar-based Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.

ECOWAS, which was set up in 1975, represents a total population of around 385 million inhabitants.

It comprises Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

Source: Presstv

The local mobile telecom companies Orange and MTN in Cameroon have been fined over $160 million for failing to pay taxes on games and gambling services.

The Central African country corruption board announced on Wednesday.

A probe into the sector led to fines totaling $283 million, and found other companies including Camtel and Viettel were also in violation of regulations.

The amount paid by each company was not clear and the companies were not immediately available for comment.

In the report the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency said MTN and Orange were also accused of not paying taxes on their money transfer system, known as Mobile Money.

The report is another blow for MTN, which is already contesting a $3.9 billion fine in Nigeria for failing to disconnect users with unregistered SIM cards.

Unregistered SIM cards can be used for criminal activity – a growing concern in Nigeria facing the threat of militant Islamist group Boko Haram.

MTN successfully lobbied to get the fine reduced from $5.2 billion in December.

Source: AFP

The Cameroon minister of plan, Louis Paul Motaze, has met with the African Development Bank Group’s President and discussions focused on the possibility of the continent’s leading development finance institution extending a loan from its soft arm window for the rebuilding of the country’s oil refinery that went up in flames last month.

The AfDB is capable of granting Cameroon up to USD 1 billion as an emergency loan given the country’s mounting economic and financial woes.

The cash-strapped Yaounde government is looking for resources as the Southern Cameroons crisis has robbed it of its ATMs.

CDC, PAMOL and SONARA have all gone under and this has left the government with very few avenues to raise revenue.

It is becoming clear that the country is running out of foreign currency and civil servant will soon be facing salary challenges.

Our reporter, Kingsley Betek, is on the ground to provide details of the meeting between the AfDB president and the Cameroon government official.

When Cameroon’s lone refinery went down, many thought it would take long for the adverse effects to start showing. But less than two weeks after the event, the government is scrambling for solutions to clog the revenue gap left behind by the refinery’s meltdown.

SONARA has always been a huge contributor to the government’s annual budget and now that it has gone up in smoke, it implies that the country’s budget has to be amended and new sources of revenue sought. The country’s Parliament is already considering amending the budget. This is a clear sign that the meltdown is biting the government where it hurts the most.

The government’s major ATM has vanished in smoke and this is leaving government officials awake all night. The refinery used to deliver almost 50,000 barrels of oil a day and this was a guaranteed source of revenue for the government. The disappearance of this stream of revenue has really destabilized the government which is yet to find new sources of revenue.

Within government circles, officials are praying day and night that global oil prices should not escalate as this will spell more problems for the beleaguered government. Escalating oil prices will imply the government will run out of foreign exchange very fast as it will look for resources to import oil and oil products so as to meet rising domestic demand.

The fear is that in the absence of those products, prices of other products, especially food stuff, may also escalate and this would trigger inflation that might make life unbearable for millions of Cameroonians who, for many decades, have only been scrapping a living.

Escalating prices might spell a disaster for the government which is on its last foot. Cameroonians have been scared of pouring into the streets to confront a government that has made corruption and nepotism its hallmarks, but if food prices soar beyond their financial ability, it is obvious that millions will take to the streets to challenge the corrupt and inefficient government.

The first signs of a disaster are already on the horizon. Gas stations across the country are already complaining of fuel shortages and this is just the beginning. According to the government’s thinking, it could take over a year for SONARA to come back to business. This is, indeed, bad news for many Cameroonians who are already out of work and those whose businesses were closely tied to the jinxed refinery.

If government officials are talking about a year, it is clear that it will take more than three years for real business to start at SONARA. Currently, the government is looking for financial resources to rebuild the facility. It is counting on the African Development Bank and the World Bank which do not hold the country’s authorities in high esteem.

Investors in the world have very low appetite for Cameroon’s debt. The corruption for which the government is known is making it hard for foreign money to make its way into the country’s economy. Putting SONARA back to international standards will require more than USD 20 billion and the cash-strapped Yaoundé government is yet to figure out how to get such resources given that it has a very bad reputation abroad.

Though the refinery had an insurance policy, it is obvious that after such an accident, there must be investigations to determine the cause of the accident before insurance companies start paying out the benefits. They must also determine if the facility was up-to-date with its premium payments.

Cameroon has been defaulting on lots of commitments and it will not be surprising to know that it could have also defaulted on the payment of its premiums. For now, lawyers of the facility are working with their foreign counterparts to seek a way forward on how to make the once viable SONARA a going concern again.

The government has also been looking at other options which could net it some huge amounts of money. It has been talking with the French government on how to rebuild SONARA which had delivered huge amounts of oil to the French for peanuts.

The French are open to the idea of granting the corrupt Yaoundé government some of the money, but they are unhappy with the way the government has handled most of the crises that have put the country in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

France’s closest allies are walking away from it as it is believed that Paris is supporting the Yaoundé government in its resolve to kill the people of Southern Cameroons. Many EU countries are insisting on Yaoundé calling for an inclusive dialogue that will help normalize things in Cameroon.

But Yaoundé has been indifferent to those calls. Many EU countries have already allied with the United States and Canada on how the Southern Cameroons crisis could be addressed. America’s determination and its ability to mobilize other countries, including some of Cameroons neighbors like Equatorial Guinea, have rattled the regime and its supporters.

Over the last two days, regime supporters, including the Speaker of the House and the Senate President have been shouting from rooftops that there is a global conspiracy to destabilize Cameroon. They blame this on Southern Cameroonians and government forces seem to have been irritated by the enormous pressure coming from Brussels and Washington D.C.

The last few days have witnessed massive killings in many villages in Southern Cameroons. In Ossing and Ndekwai in the Southwest region, government troops slaughtered more than ten innocent civilians in a situation many observers say was unnecessary. In Esu and Jakiri in the Northwest region, army soldiers beheaded unarmed civilians. The killings have intensified over the last couple of days as the regime suspects that international pressure may increase in the days ahead.

Army soldiers have also been burning homes and destroying food crops, believing that such tactics will cause the population to yield and betray the fighters. This strategy has been in effect for more than two years, but the Southern Cameroons population is very determined. Most southern Cameroonians are for independence and will not settle for anything less.

The Yaoundé government is really frustrated. Its international allies are walking away and this is creating brand new problems even in the North where Boko Haram remains a lethal threat. The withdrawal of American military support in the North has exposed Cameroon’s army soldiers to more attacks from Boko Haram. 

Yesterday, some 23 Cameroon soldiers were slaughtered by Boko Haram fighters in the country’s northern region. The ill-equipped soldiers were surprised by the fighters and were sent to an early grave. Their checkpoints and offices were demolished and weapons seized by Boko Haram fighters. American sanctions have already begun biting and if care is not taken, the days ahead may be bloodier.

According to sources close to the government, the stress is obvious. Government officials seem to be seeing the writing on the wall. The government is out of money and the West’s decision to turn the heat on the collapsing Yaoundé government seems to spell the end for a regime that has thrived on corruption and tribalism.

As the oil refinery has gone, the government does not have money to buy and corrupt more people. Some of its fervent supporters are already jumping ship. Many senior government officials are already sending their families abroad as they know that America’s determination to bring change to Cameroon can never be underestimated.

There is panic in Yaounde. The “river of money” in the southwest region has gone dry. CDC, PAMOL and SONARA are all facing problems and these are corporations that have stood the government in good stead over the last fifty years.

With these corporations facing tough challenges, it is clear that Cameroon is in real trouble. The government is at its wit’s end. The challenges are only mounting. It is the SONARA meltdown that will finally take the government down if care is not taken.

Before long, civil servants and the military will not be receiving their salaries. The military, in particular, has stood solidly behind the government during its bad days. Will it still stand with the government now that its coffers are empty? The stress is obvious and for cause. The military might just as well jump ship.

Cameroon is in for tough times and only a resolution of the country’s multiple crises can help bring some stability to the country. Without an inclusive dialogue as advocated by the international community, Cameroon will continue to be caught in a turbulence of epic proportions and the stress will continue.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai at the Global Headquarters in the UK, with contributions from Kingsley Betek and Bamba Gaoussou in Malabo

div> African Development Bank Group’s Annual Meetings are underway in Malabo and regional integration has taken the pride of place. Speaking during a press briefing as the Meetings opened, the AfDB President, Akinwumi Adesina, said that “If we get integration right, Africa can develop with dignity and confidence.”

The theme of this year’s meetings is ‘Regional Integration for Africa’s Economic Prosperity.” Regional integration gained momentum with the agreement on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in March 2018 and is now at the threshold of its launch next month.

The AfCFTA will constitute the world’s largest free trade area, consolidating an integrated market of 1.3 billion consumers with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of about $3.4 trillion. It is estimated that Africa’s GDP growth could reach 6% a year in a continent without borders (UNECA).

Answering questions from pan-African and international journalists, Adesina said that the Bank has invested around $1 billion through various initiatives, including cross border infrastructure, to move trade across African borders. Most has gone to small and medium enterprises – the engine of economic growth.

Cesar A. Mba Abogo, Equatorial Guinea’s Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, who co-hosted the press conference, spoke about the country’s significant efforts on the economic and infrastructure front, to connect markets in Central Africa. “It is a real privilege to host the Bank’s Annual Meetings… the Bank’s High 5s – are very much in line with our development strategy between now and 2025,” Abogo said, revealing that the country’s road networks both in Malabo and throughout the mainland, were better than across large parts of Africa.

In addition, Equatorial Guinea has invested in social housing and will continue to improve human capital, through capacity building and training programmes, while recognising the challenges presented by skill shortages. Equatorial Guinea had been selected as host of the Annual Meetings because of its economic potential and because Central Africa could benefit a great deal from regional integration, said Adesina. “We believe that the potential is immense, but the level of integration is not enough, ” he said. Regional integration is one of the Bank’s High 5s and is seen as pivotal to boosting Africa’s economic development.

The Bank is committed to accelerating Africa’s integration process. In the last five years the Bank has invested more than $15 billion in the construction of regional infrastructure in energy, transport and ICT. Some of these projects include a $93.8 million loan for the long-awaited Trans-Gambia bridge linking the Gambia and Senegal, resulting in a 50% cut in freight costs and improved transport, health and education services for 900,000 local people.

Earlier in the morning at a media breakfast, Adesina underscored the importance of regional integration in Africa. “If we get our integration right, Africa will be more competitive, will be able to create a massive amount of jobs and, more importantly, Africa can develop in dignity and confidence,” Adesina said.

The Annual Meetings will be an opportunity for experts, governments, businesses, civil society, think tanks and academia to share their candid assessments on regional integration efforts and dialogue on critical issues concerning Africa’s development.

By Kingsley Betek in Malabo

It is almost one week since Cameroon’s lone oil refinery went up in smoke and the scale of the destruction is now obvious to everybody. SONARA will be out of business for at least three years and the government will have to come up with a huge chunk of money if it must have its largest ATM up and running again.

Rebuilding SONARA will require more than USD 20 billion and the government does not have that money in its coffers right now. SONARA has an insurance policy, but that will not kick in until cost adjusters and other agents complete their investigations.

This is indeed bad news for the cash-strapped and corrupt government that has been treating SONARA as its piggy bank, with government officials always sending helicopters to pick up raw cash from the oil refinery when a financial squeeze is staring the government in the face.

This has been the government’s modus operandi for decades. But this is gradually coming to an end, as state corporations keep on sliding into financial challenges. The Southern Cameroons crisis has robbed the Yaounde government of its vital sources of revenue.

CDC and PAMOL have gone under and it will take billions of dollars to set them back on track. Preliminary meetings with multilateral donors like the World Bank and the African Development Bank Group have not yielded much as state-owned corporations in the English-speaking regions of the country will need billions for them to get back into operation and they are really not good businesses for investors, at least for now.

It should be mentioned that a few months ago, the Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group had approved a loan in favor of the Yaounde government for the construction of the ring road in the Northwest region. The World Bank had also approved its own share of the money, but both institutions had to put every on hold as the military situation in the region spiralled out of control.

The government’s military violence and its scorch earth policy in the two English-speaking regions of the country are gradually coming back to bite it. Its penchant for violence has robbed the country of vital resources that could help give the Central African nation’s development efforts a shot in the arm.

Cameroon is teetering on the brink of a human rights catastrophe in a cultural and linguistic conflict that has already killed more than 3,000 people. A government campaign against the country’s English-speaking minority has devolved into an armed conflict between security forces and over 10 armed secessionist groups. This situation might only get worse if urgent actions are not taken by the international community. 

The Southern Cameroons crisis that started a protest by teachers and lawyers has been allowed to tailspin into chaos and this is really sucking energy and oxygen out of the country’s economy.

The government’s ability to attract investors to the country has been diminished by the senseless killings and human rights violations taking place in the country. Rebuilding SONARA will be an uphill climb, as investors have very low appetite for Cameroon’s debt.

The burden of rebuilding the country’s lone refinery has been placed on the fragile and aging shoulders of the country’s Prime Minister, Dion Ngute, who is currently suffering from insomnia. He thought his only challenge was the Southern Cameroons crisis, but the sticky situation born of the explosion in the country’s lone oil refinery is robbing Mr. Ngute of his sleep. It is also dumping a lot of age on him.  

Ever since the fire gutted the refinery, Prime Minister Ngute, has been working the phones and holding countless meetings. Raising USD 20 billion has become a nightmare to Mr.  Ngute who understands that the government he leads lacks credibility and confidence of bilateral and multilateral donors.

Very few people will actually invest in an unstable environment. The Yaounde government is very much aware of that and this explains why it has been shouting since last week that the explosion that reduced SONARA to rubble was a case of force majeure and not sabotage as claimed by separatists who have been hellbent on bringing the facility to its knees.

If the government admits that rebels are to blame for SONARA’s meltdown, then it would lose the race for resources to rebuild the bedeviled refinery that is still threatening to throw up more fire.

On Monday, huge fires were reported where the refinery’s reservoirs are located. It took firefighters and officials of the facility three hours to figure out what was happening. SONARA seems to have been jinxed and its woes will not be over anytime soon.

The initial fire that occurred last Friday had gutted the atmospheric distillation unit which is a key component of the facility. Indeed, that is where the oil refining process starts and engineers working for the refinery have indicated that it will take a very long time to rebuild the facility which has been delivering “golden eggs” to the corrupt and irresponsible Yaounde government. 

Several meetings have been going on at the Presidency, but it is the panic at the Prime Minister’s Office that is attracting attention. Dion Ngute is losing sleep. The SONARA meltdown is putting his leadership qualities through their paces.

Prime Minister Ngute has to address so many issues, including the thorny Southern Cameroons crisis that has given the government a very bad name.  But for now, he seems to be focused on SONARA. The government is out of cash and it needs other means to replenish its resources.

It is based on this that the Prime Minister is looking at the possibility of sending a high-level delegation to Abidjan to have discussions with the African Development Bank, the continent’s premier development finance institution that is capable of granting Cameroon an emergency loan of about USD 1 billion through its soft arm window.

The continent’s surest conduit for the channeling of investment finance has the experience of granting Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Under Stress (HIPCUS) like Cameroon low interest loans with little or no conditionalities. That is why the Yaounde government is seeing the African Development Bank (AfDB) as the institution that will grant it a bailout.

The African Development Group will next week hold its Annual Meetings in Malabo where it will be seeking a capital increase and an African Development Fund replenishment. If this is achieved, Cameroon will surely be one of the first countries to benefit from the replenishment.

That is why Prime Minister Ngute will also dispatch a huge delegation headed by the country’s Minister of Plan and Regional Development who doubles as the African Development Bank Group’s Governor to Malabo to have talks with AfDB officials. The minister will be meeting with the AfDB President who is open to lending Cameroon a helping hand.

There are also plans to send another delegation to Washington D.C. to have discussions with World Bank authorities. The discussions will focus on loans and grants that will enable the beleaguered government to rebuild the collapsed refinery.

But the discussions in Washington will be very tough as America might influence the World Bank’s decision. World Bank loans and grants to Cameroon might come with conditionaities that might border on the cessation of hostilities in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

Currently, the government has been discussing with the French government through unofficial channels. The French are willing to provide some financial infusion as they have been the primary beneficiaries of Cameroon’s oil. They are however concerned about the hostilities in the country and the current political climate is worrisome to them.

The jailing of Cameroon’s leading opposition leader, Professor Maurice Kamto, the presumed winner of last year’s presidential election, has attracted  condemnation from rights groups across the world.

France is concerned about its own image and it is gradually distancing itself from the Biya regime that has become a lightning for controversy, especially as the majority of EU countries are insisting that the Yaounde government must hold an inclusive dialogue with Southern Cameroons. They are also calling for the release of Professor Kamto who is considered by the EU as a prisoner of conscience.    

The government of Cameroon is no longer at ease. It has a lot on its plate and with its resources dwindling, it is clear that it might soon be down on its luck. This is more disturbing as its former allies are all jumping ship. EU countries have become very vocal about the government’s authoritarian nature.

 America and Canada are breathing down the government’s neck and this is rattling the fragile government which needs more friends at this time. The end seems to be near and the rantings from Yaounde are no longer cutting ice with anybody.

The Yaounde government still has a choice. It must stop conducting itself as a rogue state. It should embrace the idea of an inclusive dialogue, release all political prisoners, including all Southern Cameroonians arrested within the framework of the armed conflict that has left thousands of Cameroonians dead, and grant general amnesty to all Cameroonians living abroad as a means of reducing the pressured that is gradually destroying it.

If it continues to conduct itself as it has done over the last three years, it must be ready to face the worst and even donors and investors will not come to its aide when the chips go down. The ball is in its court!

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai at the Global Headquarters in the United Kingdom and Kingsley Betek in Malabo for the African Development Bank Group’s Annual Meetings.

As announced earlier by Business in Cameroon, President Paul Biya issued a presidential order May 29, amending and supplementing certain provisions of the 2019 Finance Act.

The new Act provides for an increase by XAF361.5 billion in State Budget from XAF4,850.5 billion to XAF5,212 billion. Of the amount, XAF121.5 billion will come from domestic resources (including XAF56 billion in oil revenues and XAF24.5 billion in tax revenues) and XAF240 from loans (including XAF188 billion in external loans).

Since growth projections have not been revised upwards, the new 2019 budget is expected to slightly increase the tax burden and widen the budget deficit compared to previous budget forecasts. The challenge now is to be able to maintain deficit below 2% of GDP as foreseen by the ECF program with the IMF.

The adjusted 2019 Finance Act confirms that Cameroon is going into debt to repay its debt. Of an increase by XAF361.5 billion in budget, XAF240 billion are loans. Yet, XAF225.57 billion of the budget is expected to service the debt. This means the extra money borrowed will almost come out to pay off an existing debt.

Current spending forecasts drop XAF14.5 billion showing monies granted to certain ministries and other public institutions will be cut. But others will receive budget reallocations as well. Beneficiaries include the ministry of public works which receives additional XAF44.06 billion, the ministry of sports and civic education (XAF44.06 billion), and the ministry of water and energy (XAF23 billion).

Amount initially granted to the defense ministry is revised downwards, narrowed by XAF13 billion. But this does not necessarily mean that the total defense budget is cut. The joint expenditure forecasts (line 65) are up by more than XAF50 billion. This budget line has often been used to finance the war.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the budget adjustment intends to “take into account the increase in expected revenues” and “fully integrate the expenditure needs related to the upcoming elections and fuel subsidies, while maintaining the overall deficit at 2% of GDP.”

The revised budget also provides for the acceleration of the implementation of externally financed investment projects that are under way on the basis of a disbursement plan, according to an IMF statement that marks the fourth review of the three-year program Cameroon signed with the Bretton Woods Institution in June 2017.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Cameroon has increased troops around its lone oil refinery, after a weekend explosion caused a shutdown of the facility. But the government denies separatist fighters were responsible and says there will be no shortages of petroleum products.

Christine Enanga, a 21-year old trying to buy cooking gas from a supplier in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde, worries that in days ahead she may not be able to find the commodity.

“I came to buy four bottles of [cooking] gas,” she said, “but they told me they could not sell four, that they could only sell two because other people are buying and I know there would be serious scarcity in Cameroon.”

Drivers are also buying and stocking fuel. The scare was sparked after a storage tank exploded Saturday night at Cameroon’s only oil refinery in the town of Limbe, in the Southwest region.

The blast caused a fire that damaged parts of the refinery and shut down output. No lives were lost.

Cameroon’s Trade Minister Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana said there will be no shortages and no price increases of petroleum products.

He said Cameroon two years ago found itself in a similar difficult situation, when the national refinery shut down its doors for eight months for rehabilitation. He said shortages in supply were minimal because imports were increased without increasing prices.

He urged people to remain calm.

Rebels fighting to separate the English-speaking parts of Cameroon from the Francophone majority claimed responsibility for the explosion on social media. They said the refinery was attacked because English speakers benefit very little from the company.

Government spokesperson Rene Emmanuel Sadi said proceeds from the company are used to develop all of Cameroon and refuted claims that the explosion was perpetrated by secessionist fighters. He said early investigations indicate it was an accident.

He said details of the accident that blew up parts of the refinery will be made public soon. He added that the military has been deployed to make sure the refinery and its equipment are totally protected.

The refinery, which is almost entirely state-owned, supplies 2.2 million tons of crude a year to Cameroon and countries of the region including Togo, Nigeria, and Ghana.

Source: VOA