Natural Resource Management: Cameroon Improves

(Cameroon Tribune) The country has recorded a score of 54 on 100 in the Resource Governance Index thanks to satisfactory oil and gas revenue management.

Cameroon has made

progress in the management of oil and gas revenue, the 2017 Resource Governance Index (RGI) recently released by the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) has shown. Though considered as weak by analysts, the country scored 54 on 100, placing itself at the 30th position out of some 89 assessment worldwide. In sub-Saharan Africa, out of some 31 assessments, Cameroon is the seventh best placed country.
Going by the index, Cameroon’s oil and gas sector recorded its highest score in the revenue management component with a satisfactory 70 on 100.The NRGI report posits that Cameroon recorded the satisfactory result thanks to its adherence to the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC)'s common fiscal rules which include a set of budget balance and debt rules. "With the basic element of budget transparency and fiscal rules in place, the sector achieves a satisfactory score for the revenue management subcomponent,” it is stated in the 2017 Resource Governance Index. The report notes that in 2015, Cameroon did not adhere to the rule on fiscal balance, but by respecting three out of four criteria, it is ahead of other member countries in terms of compliance and data on budget, oil revenue and debt are now available.
In assessing Cameroon oil and gas sector, the Resource Governance Index also focused on sub-components in the likes of licensing, taxation, local impact, voice and accountability, Government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, control of corruption, political stability and open data. Inadequate control of corruption and the less respect for the rule of law appear to be playing negatively on the ‘enabling environment’ sub-component for Cameroon.

AMINDEH Blaise ATABONG