The plenary sitting of the House dedicated for the event will begin at 3:30 pm.

The Prime Minister, Head of Government, Philemon Yang will during a plenary sitting of the National Assembly today, November 28 beginning at 3:30 p.m. present the economic, financial, social and cultural programme of the government for 2014.

This follows the tabling of the Finance bill of the Republic of Cameroon for the 2014 Financial year in plenary sitting of the House on November 26. The bill contains the draft 2014 State budget which stands FCFA 3 312 billion in revenue and expenditure against FCFA 3 236 billion for 2013, representing an increase of FCFA 76 billion in absolute terms and 2.3 per cent in relative terms.

Government in the explanatory statement says the draft budget seeks to honour the Head of State's commitments and more importantly lays the indispensable groundwork for achieving the objective of making Cameroon an emerging country by 2035. The draft budget is based on macroeconomic assumptions that are consistent with domestic economic prospects such a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 4.8 per cent and an inflation rate of about 2.8 per cent.

Revenue Projections

The resources for the 2014 financial year are classified under internal resources and external resources. Concerning internal resources, the draft budget projects FCFA 2 983 billion against FCFA 2 912 billion in 2013, representing an increase of FCFA 71 billion in absolute terms and 2.43 per cent in relative terms. It is projected that non-oil revenue will be FCFA 1 985 billion, representing an increase of FCFA 28 billion with respect to FCFA 1 957 for 2013. Oil revenue on its part is estimate to be FCFA 718 billion against FCFA 705 billion for 2013, representing an increase of FCFA 13 billion. Bonded loans are projected to bring in FCFA 280 billion against FCFA 250 billion in 2013.

External resources are projected to bring in FCFA 329 billion against FCFA 324 billion in 2013. Loans are expected to be FCFA 274 billion against FCFA 258 billion in 2013 and grants to be FCFA 55 billion against FCFA 66 billion in 2013.

Expenditure Projections

Priority in expenditure will be given to the fight against poverty and high living cost by increasing the allocation of investment budget resources to growth sectors. With this vision, direct recurrent expenditure is estimated at FCFA 2 009.2 billion, up by FCFA 44.2 billion from the FCFA 1 965 billion in 2013. Capital investment is estimated at FCFA 1 000 billion against FCFA 957 billion in 2013, registering an increase of FCFA 43 billion. Public debt servicing on its part is estimated at FCFA 302.8 billion, against FCFA 314 billion in 2013, being a decrease of FCFA 11.2 billion.