US credit rating agency, Standard and Poor’s (S & P) announced early on Monday that it was keeping Cameroon FCFA note at level “B”, due to the fact that the risk of political and social instability remains high. The US financial institution noted in a statement that too much uncertainty was surrounding the succession of the 83 year old leader President Paul Biya.

S & P experts also opined that there was going to be a major political and social crisis, linked to the succession of Paul Biya, in power since 1982, if the Cameroonian dictator should stay until 2018. In the statement made public on Monday the 17^th of October 2016, S & P observed that: “We believe that a risk of political instability exists, given the lack of democratic transition in terms of experience.”

The US credit rating agency also said that the growth of the Cameroonian economy, will average 5.3% over the next three years, from 2016 to 2019. Cameroon, due to a highly diversified economy has weathered the oil price fall and the astronomical expenses related to the wars waged by the country since 2014 against the Islamist organization Boko Haram and in the Central African Republic. The agency also reacted on the solvency of Cameroon stating that it remains limited due to the weakness of institutions in the country. For S & P, the daily population is most affected in a nation where external debt is growing.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in Dublin