(Business in Cameroon) - Thanks to client deposits which reached 116.612 million Nairas (FCfa 221.8 billion) as at 31 December 2016, the Cameroonian subsidiary of the Nigerian banking group UBA provided its clients with more loans. Indeed, according to the financial statements of the group which were just published, UBA Cameroon granted its client base a volume of FCfa 109.35 billion (57.485 million Nairas) in loans during 2016.

This indicator has sharply risen since 2015, when UBA Cameroon funded the local economy with credits worth a total of 37.559 Nairas, equivalent to FCfa 70.38 billion. According to sources close to this bank, this substantial increase (over FCfa 30 billion) in the volume of credit granted by UBA Cameroon last year is explained by the important funding made available by the bank to carry out or develop major infrastructure projects in the country.

This is the case for the long term loan (7 years with a grace period of 6 months) of FCfa 24.5 billion granted to the Cameroonian government to finance its share in the project for the construction of a 600,000-seat stadium in Olembé, Yaoundé in the run up to the organization of the 2019 AfCON in Cameroon.

The same goes for the FCfa 46.5 billion loan guarantee given to the Turkish company Yenigun, in charge of building a 50,000- seat football stadium in Japoma, in the suburbs of Douala, the economic capital of the country. Concurrently, we learned from reliable sources, last year UBA Cameroon co-arranged with the local subsidiary of Ecobank, a syndicated loan worth a total of FCfa 47 billion for Dangote Cement Cameroon, who last year, took away the leadership from Lafarge-Holcim in the local cement market.

Still in 2016, the Cameroonian subsidiary of the Nigerian group UBA gave a lifeline to a Gabonese Public Treasure lacking liquidity due to the drop in international crude oil prices, with a medium term loan of FCfa 15 billion. Over the period under review, UBA Cameroon invested 38.133 million Nairas (FCfa 72.28 billion) in public securities, against 26.659 million Nairas in 2015, about FCfa 49.5 billion. This sharp rise can be explained by the launch last year of a new debenture loan of FCfa 150 billion by the Cameroonian government, and the increase in financial need on BEAC’s public securities market where UBA Cameroon is a primary dealer (SVT in French) for several member States of this central bank.

Brice R. Mbodiam