CEMAC: Cameroon Captures Nearly Two-Thirds of Bank Credits
Cameroon's economic hegemony within the CEMAC zone is reflected in the distribution of regional financial flows. The consolidated offer of financing at the community level recorded a 5.93% increase over the twelve months of the 2025 fiscal year, rising from 2,838.8 billion to 3,007.1 billion FCFA.
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Of the global monetary mass injected by the sub-regional banking system, the Cameroonian economy alone captured an envelope of 1,922.4 billion FCFA, representing a dominant share of 63.93%. The findings of the Central African Institute of Emission validate the centrality of the Yaoundé market compared to competing markets in Gabon (18.25%), Congo (8.33%), Chad (5.59%), Equatorial Guinea (3.03%), and the Central African Republic (0.87%).
The quarterly acceleration of financing demand in Cameroon, marked by a 10.56% increase at the end of the year, results from a stimulated commercial fabric driven by consumption deadlines and the fervor surrounding national political consultations. The emulation between local credit institutions maintains favorable tariff conditions for debt. The segmentation of market shares consecrates Banque Atlantique Cameroun as the leader with 19.89% of new commitments, followed by Société Générale Cameroun, SCB Cameroun, and BGFIBank Cameroun. Large private enterprises remain the hegemonic beneficiaries of bank counters, allocating 1,236 billion FCFA, or two-thirds of the released envelopes. Public administrations also show increased recourse to bank leverage, whose exposure rose from 31.9 billion to 167.3 billion FCFA in one year, to the detriment of households whose share declined to 7.1%.
The nature of financial support, however, highlights management choices that question the structural viability of the growth model. More than 60% of financial allocations are captured by cash facilities and short-term overdrafts aimed at covering immediate treasury tensions. Medium- and long-term credits dedicated to investment, essential for densifying the national industrial apparatus and substituting imports, represent only a marginal residual of 13.2% of the global volume. The functional imbalance of credit distribution underscores the prudence of financial intermediaries, who prioritize the refinancing of commercial exploitation cycles to the detriment of long-term venture capital.
BCN
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