(Business in Cameroon) - To date, over 250 bank accounts have been opened at Banque camerounaise des PME (BCPME), according to authorised sources. The public financial institution specialising in SME financing officially opened its doors to the public on July 20, 2015 in Yaoundé, the capital, and on 3rd August in Douala, the economic capital.
But, according to heads of the bank, which has 10 billion FCFA in capital, it will not be until the end of the month of October 2015 before BCPME provides financial support to SMEs, generally prone to financing access difficulties with traditional banks.
It is in an effort to loosen the noose of inadequate financing around SMEs, which are considered to be the engine of economic growth, that the Cameroonian Head of State had, at the Ebolowa agricultural comice in 2011, promised the creation of the specialised banking institution at the same time as a long awaited agricultural bank.