(Business in Cameroon) - Authorised sources have revealed that the nation’s drinking water distribution management company, Camwater, the Autonomous Port of Douala (PAD) and Société camerounaise des dépôts pétroliers (SCDP), are to be rated by the pan-African financial rating agency, Bloomfield Investment, to assess their credit risk on the capitals market.

Upon the signing of agreements between the said companies and the Bloomfield agency, three months are all that will be needed to assign a financial rating to the Cameroonian public sector companies – a necessary first step before accessing the capitals market.

The three State-owned companies are thus following on the heels of Camtel after it recently received a local currency rating of BBB for its long term prospects from Bloomfield, becoming the first company in the history of Cameroon to undergo such an exercise.

According to our sources, the financial rating these companies have been requesting is the result of the Cameroonian government’s decision that its companies should enter the capitals market in order to finance their projects themselves. This will allow the government to be relieved of its support role for these companies which have been achieving “pitiful results” based on a recent finding expressed by the IMF concerning the Cameroonian economy.

This all led to these first four companies being chosen to embark on the journey to the capitals market. Camtel, Camwater, the PAD and the SCDP were chosen due to their immense potential in their respective sectors.