The funds will finance the digital transformation of agriculture.
The Board of Directors of the World Bank approved, on September 28, 2021, a loan in the amount of US $ 100 million, or more than CFAF 55 billion, in favor of Cameroon. This funding, we learn from the official statement of the Bretton Woods institution, will “support the efforts made by Cameroon in favor of digital inclusion and the use of innovative solutions in the agricultural sector“.
“The low coverage of broadband and its high cost are slowing down Cameroon’s economic transformation and limiting its resilience to shocks such as Covid-19. The project will support public policy and regulatory reforms (with) institutional capacity building that will improve access to broadband, but also stimulate growth and innovation, promote competition and facilitate investments in the digital economy and the agricultural sector, ”explains Abdoulaye Seck, Director of Operations for Cameroon at the World Bank.
This funding, indicated the communiqué, is being released as part of Cameroon’s digital transformation acceleration project. It also aims to support the establishment of a strategic, political and regulatory environment conducive to the emergence of a dynamic, secure and inclusive digital economy.
It is also intended to reduce the geographic and social digital divides from which rural areas suffer. In this sense, it should facilitate the implementation of solutions to boost the agricultural sector, and therefore increase its contribution to the national economy.
Despite the fact that it will increase the country’s public debt, the implementation of this project, according to the donor, should ultimately contribute to the acceleration of economic growth in the country; to increased productivity and job creation, both in the digital and agricultural sectors.