Cameroon’s public treasury made significant strides in repaying its domestic debt in 2024, but it still missed its repayment goal. According to the country’s national sinking fund (CAA), the government repaid a total of CFA 435.5 billion of its domestic debt last year, which is only 52.7% of the CFA 826.3 billion target outlined in the revised 2024 budget.

The CAA’s report does not provide specific reasons for falling short of the debt repayment target. However, this shortfall could be attributed to the accumulation of outstanding payments, such as unpaid invoices totaling CFA 341 billion by the end of 2024. Additionally, the state has faced delays in paying VAT credits to businesses, among other financial obligations. These types of debts do not carry mandatory repayment deadlines, unlike funds raised through capital markets, which come with clear repayment schedules.

On a brighter note, the CAA’s latest report reveals that Cameroon successfully exceeded its goals for repaying external debt. In 2024, the total external debt service amounted to CFA 942.6 billion, surpassing the CFA 825 billion target set in the revised national budget. External debt repayment is subject to strict deadlines, including both principal and interest payments, as per the government’s contractual commitments.

While the country’s efforts to meet its financial obligations remain a challenge, the progress made in managing external debt provides a more positive outlook for Cameroon’s fiscal health moving forward.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Yvon Sana Bangui, the governor of the Bank of Central African States (BEAC), announced a recruitment drive for 157 middle-management positions within the institution. These roles are available to citizens of the six CEMAC member states (Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, and the Central African Republic). The positions require qualifications equivalent to a two- or three-year post-secondary degree, such as a DUT, a bachelor’s degree, or similar credentials. Applicants must be no older than 35 years as of the application deadline.

The governor also clarified that BEAC employees meeting the educational requirements and with exemplary disciplinary records are eligible to apply, regardless of age or seniority. The open positions cover a wide range of roles, including administrative officers, IT specialists, protocol officers, actuaries, security agents, project management assistants, auditors, economists-statisticians, HR managers, accountants, lawyers, executive secretaries, and various technical maintenance and procurement positions.

Candidates are required to submit their applications by March 31, 2025, through the BEAC website (www.beac.int/travailler à la BEAC). The full details of the recruitment process will be provided in the official invitation letter.

However, this new recruitment comes amid an ongoing dispute over a previous hiring process. In December 2021, BEAC launched a recruitment competition for senior management positions. The results were announced in April 2023, with 66 candidates from across CEMAC countries declared successful. But, as early as August 1, 2022, the President of the BEAC Board of Directors, Hervé Ndoba, had instructed the then governor, Abbas Mahamat Tolli, to immediately halt the recruitment process. He argued that the pre-selection results had already damaged the credibility of the process and harmed the bank’s image.

In response, Governor Tolli emphasized that no body should interfere with BEAC’s operations, as they were conducted with transparency and in the bank’s best interests. Despite this, on October 6, 2022, the Ministerial Committee of the Central African Economic and Monetary Union (CEMAC) passed a resolution not only suspending the recruitment but also calling for an audit of the process.

Later that day, BEAC’s Board of Directors, relying on an internal audit report, ordered the continuation of the recruitment process. In light of this, Governor Tolli sought legal advice from the CEMAC Common Court of Justice in Ndjamena regarding the legality of the Ministerial Committee’s suspension. On November 16, 2022, the court ruled in favor of the governor, confirming that the suspension was unlawful and reinforcing BEAC’s exclusive authority over its recruitment process.

Despite the legal backing, the recruitment process for the 22nd class of senior management at BEAC was suspended in June 2023, two months after the final results were published. The 66 candidates who had been accepted into the program formed a group and have threatened to take legal action if necessary.

Yvon Sana Bangui, who took over as BEAC governor in the meantime, has made resolving this dispute a priority. On January 29, 2025, he announced the launch of an audit of the contested recruitment process. The firm RSM France was selected to conduct the audit after an international selection process that began in July 2024. The governor emphasized that the audit will be conducted with full transparency and independence, with the aim of providing a report that will guide the Ministerial Committee’s decision on the next steps in the recruitment process.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Cameroon is set to significantly increase its cement production with the addition of three new cement plants in Édéa, a town in the Sanaga-Maritime department. These new plants will raise the country’s total production capacity to 12.7 million tons by the end of 2025, helping meet local demand and expand into international markets.

The Minister of Industry, Mines, and Technological Development, Fuh Calistus Gentry, recently visited the plants and two nearby quarries. All three cement plants are being built by Chinese investors in Édéa, the capital of the department.

The first plant, Sino Africaine (Sinafcim), is currently under construction and will have an annual capacity of 1 million tons. It employs 200 workers, with 90% of them being Cameroonian. The first batch of cement is expected to be produced in April 2025.

The second, Central Africa Cement (CAC), has been operating for several months and has a production capacity of 1.5 million tonnes per year. It currently employs 100 people, with a plan to reach 200 workers.

The third plant, Yousheng Cement, located on the banks of the Dibamba River near Douala, is still under construction. It will have a production capacity of 1.8 million tons per year.

Once all three plants are up and running, Cameroon’s cement production will rise by 4.3 million tonnes, bringing the country’s total production to 12.7 million tons by the end of 2025. This will not only cover the national demand of 8 million tons but will also position Cameroon to export cement to other countries.

The growth of the cement industry in Cameroon is impressive. With these new plants, the total number of cement production units in the country will rise to nine, marking a major shift since the end of the cement monopoly held by the company Cimencam, a subsidiary of Lafarge Holcim Maroc Afrique (LHMA). Cimencam had dominated the market for 48 years with a production capacity of 2.3 million tons. Since 2015, new players like Dangote Cement, Cimaf, Medcem, Mira Company, and Cimpor have entered the market, making it more competitive.

Despite the increase in production capacity, the price of cement remains high. In major cities like Douala and Yaoundé, a 50 kg bag of cement costs between 5,100 and 5,300 FCFA. Both producers and the government explain these high prices by the costs associated with importing clinker, an essential ingredient in cement production.

Source: Business in Cameroon

By September 30, 2024, CEMAC countries had raised CFA6.91 trillion in the BEAC public securities market, marking a 14.7% increase from the previous year. BEAC’s latest Economic and Statistical Bulletin, released on February 20, 2025, reveals that over CFA4.67 trillion of this came from short-term Treasury bills (BTA).

The most popular among these were the 26-week BTA, which accounted for CFA1.55 trillion, or 56.2% of the total BTA issuances. In comparison, governments secured CFA2.24 trillion through longer-term Treasury bonds (OTA), typically used for funding infrastructure and development projects.

The overwhelming reliance on short-term debt indicates ongoing cash flow challenges. BTA are primarily issued to cover immediate costs like salaries, debt repayments, or other urgent expenses, while OTA are intended for long-term investments.

Cameroon, along with Congo and Gabon, was one of the top issuers in the region. The country’s Finance Ministry reports it raised CFA1.15 trillion in 2024 from the BEAC market, a 20.4% increase from the previous year. The bulk of this funding came from BTA, which accounted for over three times the amount raised through OTA.

“We were very active in various segments, issuing a total of 65 securities—49 Treasury bills totaling CFA868.9 billion. On the bond side, we issued 16 securities with maturities ranging from two to ten years, raising CFA285.03 billion,” stated Finance Minister Louis Paul Motazé on February 13, 2025, in Douala, where he presented the government’s 2025 financing plan to investors.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Cameroon’s Customs Directorate (DGD) collected CFA95.33 billion in January 2025, slightly exceeding its target of CFA95.05 billion. This marks a 29% increase from the CFA73.89 billion collected in January 2024, a difference of more than CFA21 billion.

“In year-over-year terms, revenue has increased by CFA21.44 billion in absolute value, representing a 29% rise,” the DGD noted in its Feb. 13 newsletter.

Despite the strong overall performance, the Littoral I Customs sector, which contributes the most to Cameroon’s customs revenue, fell short of its target. The sector, which includes the Port of Douala, was expected to bring in CFA59.20 billion but ended January with CFA57.31 billion, meeting 96.8% of its goal. The February 2025 target is set at CFA55.03 billion, accounting for 58.5% of the total projected customs revenue of CFA94.02 billion for the month. This is slightly lower than January’s projection.

The DGD has set ambitious goals for 2025. After surpassing CFA1 trillion in revenue for the first time in 2023, reaching CFA1.02 trillion, the customs administration now aims for CFA1.14 trillion this year. That’s an increase of CFA88.1 billion, or 8.3%, compared to the CFA1.06 trillion collected in 2024. To hit this target, the DGD is counting on an average monthly collection of CFA95.3 billion throughout 2025.

Source: Business in Cameroon

The Bank of Central African Countries has made it easier for banks to open new bank branches within the community. A new regulation, in effect since the beginning of the year, allows banking groups already licensed in one of the Cemac countries to expand into others without having to apply for additional approvals.

“During its extraordinary session on December 20, 2024, in Libreville, the ministerial committee of the Central African Monetary Union (UMAC) adopted a regulation on the single banking license in the CEMAC region. This allows banks that already hold a license in one CEMAC country to expand into another without going through new administrative procedures to obtain a separate license,” said Yvon Sana Bangui, governor of the Bank of Central African States (BEAC), in a statement issued on February 14, 2025.

This measure aims to strengthen the banking network across CEMAC, aligning with Cameroon’s ambitions as the region’s economic powerhouse. In 2022, Cameroon alone accounted for 60% of bank accounts in CEMAC about 2.8 million accounts and 28.8% of the region’s banking network, with 15 out of 52 licensed banks. The country now plans to increase its number of banks to 30 by 2030, up from 19 today, as part of its 2020-2030 National Development Strategy (SND30).

Even with this growth, Cameroon is still catching up with countries like Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal, which have similar levels of development. According to the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), Côte d’Ivoire had 29 banks and Senegal had 28 as of March 2023. Côte d’Ivoire alone had 4.59 million bank accounts in 2020 1.8 million more than Cameroon in 2022. Across the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), the total number of bank accounts reached 15.4 million in 2020, an increase of 3 million over two years. That’s more than three times the 4.7 million accounts recorded in CEMAC in 2022.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Sofavin, a subsidiary of the Fobert Group, officially inaugurated its Coca-Cola production plant on February 6, 2025, in Owendo, about 12 miles from Libreville, Gabon. This marks a major milestone for the company, which has been Coca-Cola’s official bottler in Gabon since 2022.

“We’ve invested over CFA20 billion since joining the Coca-Cola network to meet the standards and requirements of Coca-Cola International and boost our production capacity,” said André Lebouama, Deputy Director representing the Fobert Group. These funds have gone toward modernizing the factory and ensuring it meets global production and quality standards. The total cost of these upgrades, announced by Sofavin in 2022, was forecasted to be around $40 million, or roughly CFA25 billion

The project was made possible with the financial backing of two key banks: BGFIBank, a major Gabonese bank, and the Union Gabonaise de Banques (UGB). However, the exact breakdown of the contributions from each bank has not been disclosed by Sofavin. “Their contributions were crucial to the success of this project,” Lebouama added.

Massive Production Capacity

Spanning 40 hectares, the new facility significantly increases Sofavin’s production capabilities. The factory features three state-of-the-art production lines that can produce 5,000 plastic bottles, 32,000 glass bottles, and 15,000 cans per hour. It will manufacture and package Coca-Cola’s flagship beverages, including Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, and Schweppes, in various formats such as returnable glass bottles, plastic bottles, and cans, all while ensuring product safety and quality.

In addition to meeting growing consumer demand, the factory is expected to create 700 direct and indirect jobs in Gabon. A continuous training program has also been implemented to help develop local talent and enhance workforce skills.

Bernard Fokou and his Fobert Group are not stopping with this factory. The company plans to invest an additional CFA15 billion between 2025 and 2026 to further strengthen its infrastructure and better serve the market’s needs.

A New Era for Coca-Cola in Gabon

Fobert Group’s rise in Coca-Cola production marks the end of Sobraga’s 25-year run as Coca-Cola’s local partner in Gabon. In 2022, The Coca-Cola Company ended its partnership with Sobraga, a subsidiary of the French group Castel, as part of a broader shift. The contract for bottling in Cameroon, for example, was awarded to Gracedom Invest, a company owned by Jacqueline Dogmo.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by Brice Oligui Nguéma, Gabon’s transitional president, underscoring the strategic importance of the project for the country. The event also comes on the heels of a turbulent period for the Fobert Group, which faced a public health scandal at the end of 2024 that strained its relations with the Gabonese authorities. But with this new chapter, the company seems poised for a smoother future and a closer partnership with the Gabonese government.

Source: Business in Cameroon