Fiscal Decentralisation in Cameroon: Trend Analyses of Financial Resources Mobilised by Councils in North West Region of Cameroon from 2010 to 2022

Abstract

This paper examines the effectiveness of the financial resources mobilised by councils in the North West Region from the Additional Council Taxes, funding agreements, Public Investment Budget and the Common Decentralisation Fund and the impact that these resources have on the performance of councils. The paper adopted the trend analysis technique through the use of the Resource Dependency Theory and uncovered that fiscal decentralisation effectively started in Cameroon in 2010 and that from 2010 to 2022, huge financial resources have been mobilised by councils in the North West Region. However, not all the resources mobilised are directed to investment projects. A greater proportion of the resources is used to meet up with the payment of staff salaries and other recurrent expenses. Thus, the resources mobilised externally have less impact on developmental projects at local levels. Consequently, it is recommended that councils should effectively recover local taxes, royalties and levies and use these local recoveries to pay staff salaries and handle other recurrent expenses while effectively directing all external resources (Additional Council Taxes, funding agreements, Public Investment Budget and the Common Decentralisation Fund) to investment projects.