MINFI: CFAF8,826 bln, i.e 38.6% of GDP Stands as Cameroon's Estimated Debts Last April

Cameroon’s outstanding public debt was estimated at CFAF8,826 bln at end-April 2020, i.e 38.6% of GDP

At end-April 2020, Cameroon's outstanding public and publicly guaranteed debt were estimated by the National Credit Council at CFAF 8,826 billion, or 38.6% of GDP. This outstanding debt is 5.4% higher than its level at end of December 2019 and 15.7% up year-on-year.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the country's debt has increased by more than 34% in two years due, among other things, to the disbursements of budget support obtained under the Economic and Financial Programme (PEF) in progress with the International Monetary Fund (more than CFAF 578 billion), the mobilization of public securities (CFAF 638 billion via Treasury bonds), and the acceleration of the construction of major infrastructures.

The 99.6% of the public debt portfolio at end-April 2020 consisted of direct public debt, evaluated at CFAF 8,791 billion, i.e. about 38.4% of GDP, including CFAF 1,049 billion in budget support. 0.4% of the debt at that period consisted of debt endorsed by the State to the tune of CFAF 36 billion, i.e. 0.2% of GDP.

Let’s note that at end-April 2020, the direct public debt was made up of 75.7% of external debt and 24.3% of domestic debt.

In comparison, at end-December 2019, Cameroon's debt was essentially direct, 76.7% of which was external and 23.3% internal. In its medium-term 2020-2022 debt strategy, the country plans to constitute a debt portfolio composed of 77% of external debt and 23% of domestic debt by end-2020.

From the country’s debt sustainability analysis, conducted in November 2019 by the IMF at the end of the 5th review in the framework of the EFP, it appears that the country's debt remains "sustainable with a high risk of debt distress." Curled Cameroon Business news Agency