Stakeholders have been admonished to steer clear of tampering with public funds.

The South West Region will function with a budget of FCFA 10.6 billion during the 2014 financial year. The amount was disclosed in Buea Thursday 9 January by the Regional Controller of Finance during the official launch of the 2014 State budget.

According to Alice Nouboue, 63.8 per cent of the budget is dedicated to public investment while 36.2 per cent is allocated for running of services. The 2014 budget for the region dropped from the FCFA 13 billion last year to 10.6 billion this year. The rate of financial execution of the 2013 budget in the region, she admitted, was quite slow scoring 49 per cent at the regional level and 95 per cent consumption for running credit and 16 per cent for Councils allocation that stood at FCFA 2.2 billion.

The Finance Controller blamed the below average performance on technical hitches with the software, inadequate personnel, misdirected and double credits in some cases amongst other hurdles. Meanwhile, the Governor of the South West Region, Bernard Okalia Bilai while officially launching the 2014 budget, admonished stakeholders involved in the management of the State budget to improve on its management without interfering with public funds. Governor Okalia Bilai said the 2014 budget has as major goals to improve the living standards of the population and consolidate economic growth.

The budget, the Governor insisted, will accelerate projects of the Greater Achievement Programme by developing infrastructure, improve productivity and put in place the second generation agriculture amongst others. The region's chief executive officer thus challenged stakeholders to avoid delay especially as projects log book has already been published. The Regional Paymaster General, the Regional Chief of Centre for Taxes, the Chief of Customs for South West and the representative of the Ministry of Finance, all took turns to explain the various innovations in the 2014 finance law.