By Nformi Sonde Kinsai
As hinted in The Post edition No 02537 of January 26, 2026; we shall, in this article, look at the main guidelines and priorities of the 2026 state budget as set by government. Our goal remains to keep citizens abreast with what those placed in positions of responsibility are doing with state resources put at their disposal and to hold them accountable when need be.
Major Guidelines:
While supporting the implementation of the priority objectives of the National Development Strategy 2020-2030 (NDS30), the government is already working to realise several commitments recently made by the Head of State, Paul Biya. These include the opening of doctoral schools in universities; the re-launch of entrance examinations into the Higher Teacher’s Training Colleges, ENS; the implementation of the special plan for the empowerment of women and the promotion of youth employment; as well as the execution of labour-intensive works.
Particular attention will be paid to the social, economic, and professional development of young people and women, who are expected to benefit from increased empowerment and better protection. At the same time, 2026, according to the citizen budget document, will be marked by the acceleration of structuring projects and reforms aimed at strengthening the efficiency of the State and improving the overall performance of public policies.
From a budgetary standpoint, the general orientation of the government’s budgetary policy remains focused on consolidating public finances, in order to maintain viable and sustainable public debt.
In terms of revenue, the objective is to continue maximizing the mobilisation of non-oil domestic revenue, while preserving the sustainability of economic activity and the competiveness of businesses. The revenue mobilisation policy aims for the progressive increase of non-oil domestic revenue. The projected oil revenue moved from 13.3 percent of GDP in 2025 to 13.9 percent in the 2026 budget thanks to the implementation of new fiscal, customs and financial measures.
Concerning expenditure, the government intends to control ordinary operating expenses and increase public investment spending in the priority sectors of the NDS30 and guarantee their sincerity, efficiency and socio-economic effectiveness.
It is expected that this approach, would among other things, ensure the sustainability of health sector projects initially funded by USAID, which have been suspended; strengthen interventions to empower women and youth; address the financial imbalance in the recently state recuperated electricity sector caused by ENEO’s precarious situation.
Priorities in Allocations & Expenditure:
It should be recalled that priorities are actions that support strong and inclusive growth, particularly through the industrial transformation of the productive sector and an improvement in living conditions as growth facilitates job creation and poverty reduction. Thus, in the 2026 budget, government has several priorities, including peace building, agriculture, infrastructure, health, education, the economy, and so on.
In regards to security, there is continued maintenance of security vigilance at the borders and in urban areas.
From an economic perspective, government is taking measures to increase national production in both quantity and quality. Such measures include the implementation of the Initial Impulse Programme, in order to strengthen financial support to the industrial sector; the optimal execution of the Integrated Agro-pastoral and Fisheries Import-Substitution Plan; the reconstruction of the Northwest, Southwest and Far North Regions; the development of transport infrastructure and opening up of production areas, plus the rehabilitation of urban roads.
Other economic priorities are: the continuation of major structuring projects for the construction of houses, roads and drainage, as well as projects with a rapid and visible impact, with particular emphasis on the High Intensity of Labour approach; implementation of restructuring and rehabilitation measures with a view to the resumption of refining at SONARA, in the medium term; strengthening the supply, transport and distribution capacities of electrical energy; the restoration of the financial balance of the electricity sector, in particular through the state’s purchase of ACTIS shares from ENEO; improving access to public procurement for businesses led by women and vulnerable groups; and the fight against climate change.
In the social domain priority public action is bordering on the continuation of health monitoring to protect against epidemics and pandemics; the upgrading of the technical facilities of hospital structures; the development of local pharmaceutical capacities and traditional medicine; the intensification of the supply of school infrastructure at the local level; and the intensification of technical and vocational training.
Other social priorities, according to government is preserving the purchasing power of vulnerable households; facilitating women’s access to land and strengthening their political capacities; finalising the draft law on violence against women and girls, as well as the draft law on the institutionalisation of quotas on the representation of women in public and civic bodies; the intensification of the Social Safety Networks project; and the continued implementation of the commitments contained in the National Gender Policy.
In regards to governance, the main priorities being handled as contained in the 2026 Finance Law are acceleration of the decentralisation process through the implementation of the local taxation law; continues clearing of the state’s domestic debt; digitalise and optimise the human resource management of the state; and continued reform of public finance management.
In our next article, we shall look at the main new measures of raising state revenue beginning with the customs.
