The Cameroonian government issued a 7-year fungible treasury bond to raise CFA25 billion on the Beac public security market.

According to information reported by the central bank, this new fundraising will be done through domestic syndication. This is a mechanism, validated by the central bank in 2021, which consists of a government issuing public securities through a group of primary dealers (SVT) formed as a syndicate and headed by a lead manager. For this transaction, Cameroon chose the local subsidiary of the French banking group Société Générale.

Domestic syndication is a better way to raise financing since, according to an expert, fundraising by auction is becoming increasingly difficult on the Beac market for bonds with maturities of more than 5 years.

Cameroon’s new bond issue is part of a program that is expected, at the end of October 2022, to raise CFA100 billion. The program was launched after the Head of the state empowered the Minister of Finance on August 23, 2022, to raise an additional CFA200 billion, through the issuance of public securities, within the framework of the 2022 Finance Law. This brings the total amount sought by the Cameroonian Treasury on the Beac market in 2022 to CFA550 billion.

Source: Business in Cameroon

People willing to pay their electricity bills via MTN Mobile Money and Orange Money will now have to add the transfer fee. The reason? The power utility Eneo announced last September 10 the termination of this incentive introduced during the Covid-1 pandemic.

The company did not explain why this service has come to an end although Cameroon is still under threat from the pandemic. As proof, the restrictions introduced by the government on March 17, 2020 (ban on gatherings of more than 50 people, mandatory wearing of masks in public places, hand washing, social distancing, etc.) have not yet been officially lifted, even though some have been loosened.

The fee waiver was presented by the mobile operators as their contribution to mitigating the effects of the pandemic on households and the economy. It was aimed at facilitating remote payments and dealing with the constraints generated by the movement restriction measures aimed at reducing the risk of spreading the virus.

Source: Business in Cameroon

The government of Cameroon has announced a decrease in the price of bagged cement. The drop comes in view of the country’s increasing cement production capacity, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

As a result, the price of a bag of 42.5 R-grade cement will fall to XAF4800 (US$7.26) from XAF5100 in Douala and from XAF5400 to XAF5100 in Yaoundé.

In terms of 32.5 R-grade cement, in Douala, the price will decrease to XAF4100 from XAF4600 while in Yaoundé the drop will be from XAF4900 to XAF4400.

Source: Cement News

Cocoa exports during the 2021-22 campaign in Cameroon generated a total of CFA288.7 billion in revenue, according to data from the national cocoa coffee office (ONCC). This sum, collected by the 38 active exporters identified over the period, is largely higher than the profit made by producers. This means that producers, who are the real workforce of the sector, benefit less than others.

This problem is also observed on the global market. The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) reported that the annual turnover of the global cocoa industry reaches $100 billion, but only $2 billion (2%) goes to producers. Chocolate manufacturers reap the largest share with 35% of the turnover, while the remaining is shared between the grinding industry and transporters.

During the 2012-13 campaign, for example, at a time when the farm gate price was close to CFA1,500 per kg in Cameroon, local cocoa farmers sold about CFA250 billion of beans, according to ICCO data. However, during the same period, the global sector generated a total of CFA4,500 billion, said Jean-Marc Anga, then ICCO executive secretary, during the 2013 edition of the Cameroonian cocoa festival (Festicacao 2013).

To boost revenue for producers, the major producing countries on the continent such as Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Cameroon launched with the European Union (EU), the world’s largest importer of cocoa beans, an initiative called Cocoa Talks. It is presented as a dialogue on sustainable cocoa production.

 “Sustainability means protecting the environment. But, sustainability also means the survival of producers […] Sustainability rhymes with the protection of the environment, the prohibition of child labor, and ultimately, the prosperity of producers. That is what we want from this discussion,” said Minister Mbarga Atangana, at the opening of the Cocoa Talks on November 18, 2021, in Yaoundé.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Cameroon is seeking a loan of CFA61.5 billion from Deutsche Bank Italy for Phase I of the construction of the Olounou-Oveng road linking Cameroon to Gabon. Last August 26, President Paul Biya issued a decree authorizing the Minister of Economy, Alamine Ousmane Mey, to sign a deal with the lender.

For this first phase, which covers 70 km of the 105 km of road to be built, the work will focus on the construction of a 1 x 2 lane road of 3.5 m with a reference speed of 60 km/h; 59 cross drainage structures; 13 bridges of various lengths for a total linear length of 260 m; crossroads; horizontal and vertical signs and safety equipment. Phase I is expected to last 24 months.

“Building this road section, as provided for in the 3-year Emergency Plan to Accelerate Economic Growth (PLANUT), will help open up the production basins by connecting each of the cities concerned by this project to the structuring network; extend the paved road network of the southern region to the major production basins; facilitate the flow of agro-pastoral production to the major consumption centers of Cameroon and Gabon; improve the population’s access to basic infrastructure and boost their income by facilitating the sales of their production,” according to the Ministry of Public Works.

As a reminder, in February last year, Nganou Djoumessi Emmanuel signed a commercial contract estimated at CFA67 billion with the Italian company Seas under the project. This amount was finally revised down to CFA61.5 billion after arbitrations between the parties.

Culled from Business in Cameroon

Cameroonian authorities say record flooding on its western border with Nigeria has killed at least six people, washed away homes, and destroyed thousands of tons of food meant for export.

In a video circulated on social media platforms by Widikum council officials, civilians asked the Cameroon government to help clear the road of earth, mud and stones to enable them to leave Widikum.

Among the merchants is Paul Okafor, a Nigerian who buys palm oil and vegetables from Widikum to sell in his country. He said floods and landslides have blocked him in Widikum for five days, and no vehicle has been able to leave or enter because flood waters have covered roads and landslides are pulling down hills on roadsides.

Okafor said the vegetables and tomatoes he bought are beginning to rot, and Widikum vegetable farmers are complaining that their harvest is decaying.

Andoh Stanilos, the mayor of Widikum district, acknowledged that his council staff shared the videos. He said floods that triggered landslides killed six people, left hundreds homeless, and destroyed homes and warehouses.

“The floodplains overflooded and completely swept off houses,” he said. “At the moment I speak, there are over 55 people who are without something to eat. The council is trying to mobilize some resources, so I send this SOS to the government and people of goodwill to come to the assistance of persons who are destitute now.”

The floods destroyed a 36-meter-long bridge on the River Momo, keeping hundreds of merchants and commuters stranded on both sides of the river. Momo, an administrative unit where Widikum is found, is a production basin for palm oil, maize, potato, tomatoes and vegetables.

Cameroon’s National Observatory on Climate Change last month predicted that floods and landslides would hit many Cameroonian towns and villages including Widikum.

Forghab Patrick, deputy director general of the observatory, said homes built in flood-risk areas made the situation even worse.

“People build in marshy areas,” Patrick said. “What happens? Water cannot circulate correctly because the houses block even the waterways and at the end of the day, those living in those homes are all exposed.”

The government said it is educating people to stop settling on risk zones, but has not said if it will provide the food and water-hungry victims are asking for.

Source: VOA

Yves Michel Fotso, the son of the late Cameroonian billionaire, Victor Fotso doubly sentenced to life imprisonment for embezzlement of public funds during his time as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Camair-Co, the national airline may soon be a free man, Cameroon Intelligence Report has learnt from reliable sources in Etoudi.

He was arrested on December 1, 2010 and sentenced to life after it was revealed that a report of the judiciary inquiry, which was ordered by the Mfoundi High Court in Yaoundé, into the racket of acquisition of the ill-fated Presidential plane “Albatross”, had incriminated him.

Fotso was appointed the Administrator-General Manager of CAMAIR in 2000.

By Rita Akana with Intel files

A Cameroonian business delegation headed by Professor Kenneth Ojong called on Ambassador Henri Etoundi Essomba on Friday July 15, Cameroon Concord News US Bureau reported.

During the meeting, the delegation and the head of Cameroon diplomatic mission in the US examined the difficulties encountered by importers at the port in Douala, the prolonged strike action by clearing agents, hike in import duty, and harassment by custom officials in the port.

Ambassador Etoundi Essomba assured to support the US based Cameroonian businesses on a priority basis and promised to raise the issues with the authorities concerned to facilitate imports from the US by pushing for the creation of a section at the Douala port that will be responsible for evaluating containers from the United States.

The Cameroonian top diplomat said he was grateful to the business delegation for their keen interest in accelerating their investment in Cameroon.

Speaking after the meeting, Professor Kenneth Ojong said the delegation requested the ambassador to invite the Minister of Finance and the Director of Customs to the United States to meet with over 300 businessmen and women who do business with Cameroon in a bid to encourage others to make investments.

Kenneth Ojong also revealed that Cameroonian business community in the US want a review of the CEMAC taxation policy which does not favour Cameroon and has been reducing the potential of Cameroon becoming an economic hub.

By Enowtaku Ebanghatabi Christelle in Washington

The Cameroonian government planned to borrow CFA178 billion on the Beac public securities market in Q3 2022. According to its Q3 2022 provisional schedule of public securities issues, the government wants to raise CFA118 billion through issues of fungible Treasury bills (BTAs), which are securities with a maturity of up to one year, and CFA60 billion through issues of fungible Treasury bonds (OTAs), which are long and medium-term securities. In detail, the first issue is scheduled for July 11. It is a syndicated issue of 26-week BTAs for CFA83 billion. A second BTA issue is scheduled for July 25. The maturity is 52 weeks and the government is seeking CFA15 billion.

In addition, two operations on BTA with 52 and 13 weeks of maturity are planned for August 8 and 22, respectively. They aim to raise a total of CFA20 billion, at a rate of CFA10 billion per operation.

On August 29, 2022, Cameroon will launch its first OTA issue for the 3rd quarter. The Treasury seeks CFA20 billion through 6-year bonds. On September 15, another 7-year OTA issue is planned to raise CFA40 billion. As a reminder, in the amending finance law validated by the Parliament in June 2022, the Head of State raised the threshold for government debt through the issuance of public securities to CFA550 billion. This is CFA200 billion more than the amount in the initial budget law, voted in November 2021.

This measure will further increase the country’s public debt, which is already high although below the 70% of GDP threshold set in the CEMAC region.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Grilled on skewers, dried or used in hair oil: farmers at Bafoussam in western Cameroon are seeking to take the lowly mushroom, grown on agricultural waste, beyond the kitchen.

Fungiculture, or the cultivation of edible mushrooms, is long-developed in the West, while China has become by far the world’s largest producer.

But it remains very rare in Africa, despite the advantages of being almost free and supplying “clean” food by recycling waste.

Cameroonians are particularly fond of mushrooms but have to wait for the rainy season to identify and gather the edible fungi in the wilds of the west-central African country.

In Bafoussam, capital of the Western region and fifth largest city, Jean-Claude Youbi saw an opportunity to exploit, like other small farmers around the nation of 28 million inhabitants.

Youbi grows thousands of oyster mushrooms in a darkened room of the Common Initiatives Group — GIC Champignon — which he launched with associates in Maetur, a district of Bafoussam, four years ago.

“We are in the mushroom house of our GIC,” Youbi announces proudly amid the rows on rows of fungi growing on shelves on agricultural waste packaged in plastic bags.

“Some, like these, have passed the harvest period,” says one of his associates, Patrick Yaptieu, pushing aside a pile of mushrooms which have turned from the desired white colour to a yellowish hue. He then puts the good harvest of the day in bags headed for the GIC shop, near the city centre.

— ‘Corn cobs … and ox blood’ —

The lack of official national data on the production and consumption of mushrooms makes it hard to gain an idea of the market value and extent of the sector.

Activity in the GIC Champignon premises is punctuated by constant comings and goings, while two young trainees in a little side room are shovelling a pile of agricultural residue.

To obtain the soil-free culture, “we mixed corn cobs with nutrients such as bran flour, wheat and ox blood,” explains production manager Brice Nono Djomo.

“We added a fungicide to it to avoid the bad mushrooms,” he says, adding that the effects of this precautionary treatment fade away after two weeks, well before the good crop grows.

Once the substrate mixture is ready, it is sterilised, placed in barrels and heated over a wood fire, then cooled down and placed in the plastic bags. Once the spores are introduced, the bags are placed in the mushroom house, where it takes 30 days to see the first stems appear.

“I was amazed to discover this way of cultivating mushrooms,” says Junior Leogip, a boy of 12 who is devoting his school holidays to do an internship at GIC Champignon.

“I learned to prepare the substrate… I want to know everything,” Leogip adds, his heart set on winning a place in an agricultural college after his baccalaureate.

“My ambition is to launch my own production and be independent,” says Lea Tona, another trainee who comes from Yaounde.

‘Mushroom whisky’

Every three months, the time it takes for a full growth cycle, the business in Bafoussam produces from 300 to 400 kilos (660 to 880 pounds) of mushrooms, 80 percent of which are sold directly to customers to be eaten.

The remainder is transformed into body and hair oils, soap, juice and even a liqueur that Youbi presents as “mushroom whisky”.

In a small laboratory at the GIC, Youbi grinds part of the harvest in a blender to obtain a juice which will be combined with other elements for the range of by-products.

“For beauty oils, we can add snail slime and a perfume to give a pleasant smell,” he says, guarding his secrets close his chest.

“We’re in a promotional phase. For the hair oil, we give boxes to some hairstylists to experiment with.”

“It softens the hair and makes it grow back, it treats dandruff, breakage,” says Josiane Sogo in her hairdressing salon.

Some people prefer simply to taste the fungi.

“I am a very big consumer of mushrooms, especially for their virtues. It is a vegetable meat that helps me steer clear of several risks,” affirms Barthelemy Tchoumtchoua, noting that his skewer is rich in protein and vitamins B2, B3, B5 and D.

Thanks to fungiculture, “we can eat them all year round”, he adds enthusiastically.

Source: AFP