(Business in Cameroon) - The Cameroonian government is preparing itself to launch the 5th bond issuance in its history, since the initial public offering launched in the country in December 2011. According to a source close to the dossier, a consortium composed of the Cameroonian bank Afriland First Bank, the local subsidiary of the French group Société Générale, as well as EDC, affiliate of the Ecobank group specialised in investment; is ready to arrange this operation to raise funds for the Cameroonian government.

The operation with a five-year maturity, we learn, aims to raise on the Douala Stock Exchange (DSX), the country's stock exchange, financing for an amount of FCfa 130 billion. The interest rate to be applied in this new public offering has yet to be determined.

However, it is possible to imagine that this interest rate will be set around 5.5% at least, like the previous operations of this type carried out on the local stock market; or even slightly higher, in view of the current economic environment marked by the fall in world prices for raw materials, which has led to a slowdown in economic activity and consequently a reduction in saving.

This new non concessional public offering comes to swell the country's level of borrowing, which has exceeded 30% of GDP in the 2nd quarter of 2017; and subjects the country to the recriminations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with whom Cameroon is once again under a structural adjustment programme since 26 June 2017.

Brice R. Mbodiam