In less than three months, government will stop all commitments linked to the 2013 Public investment budget but as of now only 34% of the budget has been consumed, a worry to authorities.

Now, they are organising a three week workshop from Tuesday in Yaoundé to reverse the curve, according to the State-run radio, CRTV. BIP consumption is at its lowest in history and government blames the low rate on insufficient project preparation, poor understanding of budgetary reforms, and the backbreaking execution of procurement reforms.

Hope of a 6.1% economic growth projected this year has been dashed because of the low consumption of BIP.

Under the theme, “Running of the public investment budget in Cameroon, challenges and prospects for a consolidated economic growth," (translated from French) and organised by the Ministry of Economy, the symposium will draw up measures in the medium and long term, needed to optimise the consumption of the budget.

Earlier on August 5, a Presidential decree tried to remedy the bad state of affairs by increasing the ceilings of contracts the various committees in the procurement chain can award and supervise.