Speaker of the national assembly chaired on June 15, 2022 the third chairmen’s conference in order examine ordinance 2021/PJL/AN, to ratify ordinance No 2022/1 of 2 June 2022 to amend and supplement some provisions of law No 2021/26 of December 2021: Finance law of the Republic of Cameroon for the 2022 Financial year. The chairmen’s conference which later paved the way to a brief plenary sitting saw the bill fully adopted.
Right Honourable, Cavaye Yeguie Djibril chaired on Tuesday, 14th of June 2022, the chairmen’s conference of the national assembly. The session, third of its kind since the kick-off of the June 2022 ordinary session of parliament. The speaker of the national assembly as of tradition led discussions which were attended by committee presidents, the Head of CPDM parliamentary group and the clerks of the august chamber. The bill communicated to the entire house chamber was welcomed.
In the brief plenary sitting that followed and which was chaired by senior deputy speaker, Hilarion Etong, the bill No. 2021/PJL/AN, to ratify ordinance No 2022/1 of 2 June 2022 to amend and supplement some provisions of law No 2021/26 of December 2021: Finance law of the Republic of Cameroon for the 2022 Financial year, was communicated to the entire Members of parliament.
According to information gotten from the national assembly, the bill has been tabled following pursuant to sections Sixty-two and Sixty-three of the abovementioned finance law under which the president of the Republic is authorized by parliament to amend finance, tax and custom laws, as well as ceilings for the issuance of government securities and external borrowings.
The ordinance has thus made useful adjustments to the 2022 initial finance law, to reflect the prevailing domestic socio-economic trends and recent developments on the international scene, such as an upsurge in per barrel oil prices, generating a revenue windfall, and a sharp rise in pump price subsidies; the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on custom revenue; a reduction in budget support expected from the world Bank and the African Development Bank; and lastly, a bloated wage bill following the grievances of secondary school teachers and in anticipation, health workers.
It has been stated that, the 2022 state budget has been revised upward from CFAF 5 752.4 Billion in the initial finance law to CFAF 6080.4 Billion for the general budget and CFAF 102.7 Billion for special appropriation accounts.
As underlined in explanatory statements of the bill to be defended in the days ahead by Finance Minister, several stakes have been taken into account despite an economic slowdown and factoring in new constraints. The 2022 fiscal policy objectives have overall been maintained in terms of inflation contained in the CEMAC convergence threshold; fiscal deficit maintained at 2% of Gross Domestic Product(GDP) as in the initial financial law and tax burden eased by 0.3 percentage point compared to the target in the initial financial law, all of which the government resolved to keep its public finances on the path of fiscal consolidation.
Elise Kenimbeni
