(Business in Cameroon) - The National Credit Council of Cameroon (CNC) has just published a note on the Cameroonian banking sector, specifically concerning the period between the second half of 2017 and the first half of 2018.

With regard to the evolution in the Annual Percentage Rate (APR), CNC notes that, on average, the cost of credit granted by banks fell slightly between the second half of 2017 and the first half of 2018 for all customer categories, with the exception of large companies. Indeed, the rate applied to large companies increased from 5.70% to 5.76% between the two periods.

In detail, the average APR fell from 14.09% to 12.89% for individuals and from 9.50% to 9.40% for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). For legal entities other than SMEs and large companies, the rate declined from 7.02% to 6.78%. For public administrations and decentralized local authorities, it went from 6.22% to 6.07%.

According to the credit council, this decrease in the cost of credit granted by banks can be justified, in part, by strong competition in the banking sector ; each institution trying its best to attract customers whose deposits increased from XAF4,029.1 billion in November 2017 to XAF4,175.4 billion in November 2018, an improvement by 3.7% between the two periods under review.

Sylvain Andzongo