As Cameroon faces a series of climatic hazards across its 10 regions, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced $183 million for resilience to the economic repercussions.
From north to south, via the center and west, Cameroon has been constantly vibrating to the rhythm of floods, droughts and erosion in recent years. The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) refuses to be insensitive to these phenomena accentuated by climate change, and has announced that it will release $183.4 million between now and 2025 to limit the impact on development in both urban and rural areas.
Indeed, the climate vulnerability of this country of 28 million inhabitants is beginning to take its toll on the national economy (the World Bank fears a consequent 2% drop in gross domestic product by 2050), human lives (at least 61 deaths in landslides between 2021 and 2022) and biodiversity (torrential rains disrupted wildlife habitats near Mount Cameroon in 2023). As part of its Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), the IMF’s support for Cameroon should help strengthen climate governance.
Catalyzing climate financing for sustainable development
This will be achieved through “efficiency in public finance management, coordination between regional entities involved in the sustainable development chain”, explains Kenji Okamura. The IMF Deputy Managing Director adds that Cameroon’s fragility in the face of a resurgence of disasters could “aggravate food insecurity and conflict, and exacerbate poverty, inequality and population displacement. If this is not adequately addressed, human capital accumulation and inclusive growth will be jeopardized”, concludes the Japanese Prime Minister’s former special advisor on international economic policy.
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Part (yet to be determined) of the $183.4 million could therefore be devoted to rebuilding homes and farms washed away, particularly in the capital Yaoundé, modernizing drainage networks and raising household awareness of the proliferation of illegal dumps, which is undermining the attractiveness of the port city of Douala. The desertification-ridden northern zone is not excluded from this IMF allocation, as the Bretton Woods financial institution sometimes supports reforestation in the countries where it operates. And Cameroon’s North, Far North and Adamaoua regions are in dire need of such support, given the prolonged droughts that are drying up the harvests of the country’s predominantly farming populations.
Benoit-Ivan Wansi
