Cameroon - Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt initiative - memorandum and recommendation of the president

This report and its recommendation address the criteria for reaching the Completion Point under the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative as agreed by the Boards of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and International Development Association (IDA) in October 2000, and establish the debt relief to be provided with respect to the debt owed to the Bank. Upon reaching the completion point, Cameroon becomes eligible for the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) from IDA. This Completion Point Document, The staffs are of the view that Cameroon has met the floating completion point conditions, set at the Decision Point, except for the case of the establishment of the regulatory agency for the water sector. (In that case, the government, with the advice of Bank staff, decided a more effective framework for the regulation of the sector would be through provisions of a lease contract between the government and the private operator of the water facility, rather than through the creation o f a regulatory agency). The actions under the National Governance Program have included the creation of the Chambre des Comptes (audit chamber) and the Constitutional Council, the reform of the procurement system, the establishment of regulatory frameworks for public utilities, and budget tracking surveys and beneficiary assessments in education and health. The government has satisfactorily implemented its education strategy as indicated by significant progress in enrolment, as well as gender and regional equity in primary and secondary education. The health strategy has been satisfactorily implemented, including combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic. As detailed in the Completion Point document, the updated Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) based on additional information received from creditors, has resulted in an increase of the Net Present Value (NPV) of external debt as of end-June 1999 by US$2 million. IDA'S NPV of debt owed to IDA at end-June 1999 has been revised downwards to US$345 million compared from US$359 million estimated at the Decision Point Document. As a result of the revisions, the overall assistance under the Enhanced HIPC Initiative, as recommended in the Completion Point Document, would now amount to US$1,266.7 million in NPV terms, of which the costs to multilateral creditors and bilateral and commercial creditors would amount to US$322.5 million and US$879.0 million, respectively.