It is now official. The 2014 State budget which stands at FCFA 3,312 billion is operational. Vote holders across the country are already working out ways of bidding farewell to activities that forestalled the execution of the 2013 package, crippling notably the public investment budget through which sustainable growth is ascertained, to below-average execution rate.

The budget was simultaneously launched in regional capitals yesterday January 9 by joint delegations of the Ministries of Finance (MINFI) and that of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT) under the chairmanship of respective Regional Governors. The concertations which end this Friday January 10 are serving as a platform for information and experience sharing on innovations and best practices to embrace to make the sorry execution of the 2013 package decried by the Head of State a thing of the past.

According to the Director of Economy and Public Investment Programming in MINEPAT, Dieudonné Bondoma Yokono, all is being done to improve the execution rate of public investment. The speedy publication of the Projects Logbook for 2014, synergy between MINEPAT and MINFI as well as the optimal functioning of a computer-based programme "Programme Budget Management Information System (PROBMIS)," through which data is gathered from the grassroots to the central administration, he said, are signs of brighter skies.

While launching the envelop for the Centre Region which stands at FCFA 33,412 billion, Governor Roger Moïse Eyene Nlom enjoined all and sundry to work as a team to lift the execution rate in the region to a satisfactory level. "We have observed that the execution rate was low last year and we need to surmount the challenge this year given the geo-strategic position of the region in the country," he instructed.

Going by the 2014 Operations Book for the Centre, activities will focus on stepping up potable water supply, improvement of quantitative vocational training, intensification of wood processing, promotion of private initiative to improve the business climate for small and medium-size enterprises, embellishment and improvement of urban centre lighting as well as maintenance of urban roadway system among others.

According to Haman Tizi, Finance Controller for the Centre Region, the budget of 2013 for the region stood at FCFA 44,307 billion with FCFA 17,596 billion for functioning and FCFA 26,711 billion for investment. Of the functional budget, he said, over FCFA 14 billion was engaged representing an over 81 per cent consumption rate and could evolve when some councils send in their expenditures. Meanwhile, investment witnessed a dismal FCFA 4,226 billion engagement representing a 16.38 per cent execution rate. "It is too low given the late application of PROBMIS, the late award of contracts and other anomalies," Haman Tizi said.