Cleanse The Business Environment Wholly!

The President of the Republic has once again highlighted the need for the private sector to deepen investments or engage in fresh ones for the country to attain already set growth objectives.

 

In his New Year address to the nation, President Paul Biya noted that while the State plays the role of regulator and facilitator, it should as well invest in specific domains. Most importantly, he beckoned on the private sector to “invest wherever there are opportunities.” Cameroon, experts say, is in effect, a land of opportunities judging from her endowments in natural resources and geographical location. But history holds true that gifts of nature alone cannot transform a country unless they are harnessed into growth springboards.

Cameroon shouldn’t afford to be tagged as a “Paradox of Plenty” where it swims in diverse gifts of nature, even calling itself Africa in Miniature, but wanting in solid development. This is not unknown to the government. The Head of State observed that, “Our assets are known to all. However, we are still having difficulty unlocking our potentials.” Something more than what has been done thus far therefore needs to be done. The country’s business environment, to say the least, is not wholly investment-friendly. There are still complaints from left to right.

Gathering the world in Yaounde like was the case in May 2016 for an International Economic Conference to market Cameroon’s potentials was good. Clearing all obstacles to investment is better. Someone somewhere may say much is being done in this direction notably the time taken to set up a business. But the fact that the country still faces challenges attracting direct foreign investments capable of creating quality and quantity jobs and generating substantial wealth means something is still wrong somewhere. Lifting investment obstacles consists in tackling interwoven factors. Taking one and leaving the other is as good as nothing.

While the development of all-round infrastructure is primordial, improvement in governance whereby transparency and celerity in the treatment of files is a role rather than an exception should also be tackled seriously.  The rule of law should also be indiscriminately enforced so as to protect potential investors and kick out fraudsters. Investments entail huge expenses and giving potential investors a wide-range of opportunities through which they can fund their investments could also galvanize them.

In some countries, for instance, each sector has a specific bank through which investors could save and borrow money. China even perfects this with an Equity Fund wherein loans are given o...

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