Cameroon’s diverse progresses on SDGs revealed through VNR report in New York

Cameroon has made progress on the diverse varied Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 for the year 2030. In a recent voluntary national review report presented by the Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Alamine Ousmane Mey, Cameroon has recorded 4 percent of average economic growth between 2016 and 2018.

The Cameroonian Minister Alamine Ousmane Mey recently revealed the data at the United Nations’ headquarter in New York on the sidelines of the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development High Level Political Forum (HLPF 2019) through country’s voluntary national review (VNR) report. The Minister revealed that Cameroon recorded the economic growth of 4 percent (Sustainable Development Goal 8) despite the difficult environment marked by a drop in commodity prices and increased security spending.

The Minister said that Cameroon is giving its best efforts to reach the 7 percent required growth to meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the UN. However, he did not reveal any strategies of the government in meeting the target. On the other hand, due to the violence perpetrated by separatists, sectors such as brewery and mobile telecommunication have recorded losses. The southwest region also lost its leadership in cocoa production to be replaced by the central region, as reported by Business in Cameroon.

According to the Minister, Cameroon has observed the increase in student enrolment and significant progress in access, expansion and reduction of disparities (based on SDG 4). He said that the completion rates of students at the first cycle of the secondary level has improved from 53.2 percent to 80 percent between 2015 and 2018. Reducing inequalities (SDG 10) remains a major challenge for Cameroon due to security instability, he added, as reported by Cameroon Tribune.

The Minister lauded Cameroon’s efforts saying that the country is giving emphasize to fulfil SDG 13 (climate action), SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions) and SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals) set by the UN.

“The country has stable institutions, as well as diversified and resilient economy supported by great infrastructures,” he added.

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