(Business in Cameroon) - The state of Cameroon and African Development Bank (ADB) are to sign a “counter-indemnity agreement” which amounts to 500 million euro (around 327.5 billion FCFA). The presidential decree dated 23 September 2015 revealing the information also stated that this agreement was considered as a partial credit guarantee for the FCFA 750 billion Eurobond soon to be issued by government.

Indeed, on 10 February 2015 in Yaoundé, Minister of Finance, Alamine Ousmane Mey, in accordance with a presidential decree signed four days earlier, gave Société Générale and Standard Chartered Bank a mandate letter which allows them to mobilize 750 billion CFA Francs from international capital markets, for various development projects.

Whilst delivering the governmental mandate to both institutions picked to arrange the operation, Minister Alamine Ousmane Mey declared: “After respecting all our commitments on the local and sub-regional markets, the time has come for Cameroon to assert itself on the international market. We are confident to achieve this, considering that the country has all the necessary assets to successfully issue its first-ever Eurobond”.

Since then, very little has been said about this fund raising operation, which should allow Cameroon’s public finances, for the first time in its history, to compete on the international capital market. However, the announce concerning ADB’s Partial Credit Guarantee reassures about the concretisation of this loan, which, according to credible sources, should be issued next October.