The 15 per cent salary increase announced by the Cameroonian government after last February’s riots will come into force in April 2008, according to an official statement issued here.
It said the pay rise would cost the government about eight billion CFA, while the government will incur losses of 42 billion CFA in budget earnings due to tax exemptions on some primary commodities.
To manage the situation, the government will have to cut public expenditure, the statement said.
Already, Prime Minister Ephraim Inoni has announced the suspension of the purchase of official cars and asked members of his government to cut their missions abroad as well as the size of delegations for such missions.
Thursday’s cabinet meeting, chaired by Inoni, also discussed strategies to curb youth unemployment, regarded as the major cause of the February’s riots in which the official death toll was put at 40, with losses to the national economy estimated at several billion CFA.
Other issues discussed included improving public service governance and fighting corruption, according to the statement which was issued at the end of the meeting.
