(Business in Cameroon) - The Cameroonian Minister of Finance announced that the government is going back to the public securities market of the CEMAC States Central Bank on 7 June 2017, to raise a global envelope of FCfa 5 billion. This new operation will be done through the issuance of fungible Treasury bonds (BTA in French) with a maturity of 26 weeks.

Cameroon’s BTA will be in competition with those of Gabonese and Chadian public Treasuries, who will also undertake fundraising operations on the same day on the same market. Gabon, through the issuance of BTA with a maturity of 13 weeks, will try to raise FCfa 9 billion, according to an official press release from BEAC.

The Republic of Chad, for its part, will try to raise a global envelope of FCfa 25 to 30 billion, through the issuance of Treasury bonds (OTA) with a maturity of 2 years. For this operation, the Chadian government will offer an interest rate of 4.5% to buyers.

According to the statistics of BEAC, since the launch of the public securities market in November 2011, the CEMAC States have already raised close to FCfa 4,000 billion. This securities market has become more dynamic since 2015, with the treasury difficulties that the six CEMAC States are facing, due to the drop in the international prices for crude oil, which is the main source of revenues for at least four (Gabon, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea) of the six countries in this community.

Brice R. Mbodiam