IMF predicts Cameroon GDP growth to slip to 3.7 pct this year

Cameroon’s economic growth rate is expected to slip to 3.7 percent this year, down from an earlier estimate of around 4 percent, due to falling oil production, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday.

The IMF approved a $666 million, three-year extended credit facility in June for Cameroon, which has been hit hard by the global decline in crude prices. Economic growth came in at 4.5 percent last year.

In a statement at the end of a 10-day review mission, the IMF said that it had reached an agreement with the government on economic and financial policy ahead of the first review of the programme, which is expected in mid-December.

“The economic programme of the country remains on the right track despite the difficult context. All the quantitative benchmarks established in the programme…have been fulfilled,” said mission head Corinne Delechat.

The government has been forced to concentrate resources on combating Islamist Boko Haram militants along its northwestern border with Nigeria. It has also faced unrest in two predominantly English-speaking provinces since late last year.

The IMF, meanwhile, said that inflation would remain low this year at 0.5 percent.

(Reporting By Aaron Ross; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Advertisements