(Business in Cameroon) - On April 7, 2020, Cameroon’s Minister of Economy Alamine Ousmane Mey signed a XAF64.3 billion funding agreement with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), an autonomous entity within the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).  

The fund is destined to state-owned agribusiness unit Sodecoton, which supervises over 250,000 cotton producers in the Northern region.  

According to the terms of the agreement, those funds will be used to purchase inputs and cottonseeds, which will be provided to producers.

Initially set to XAF13 billion every year, the IDB’s support to Sodecoton was revised upwards during the 2017-2018 cotton season, after arduous negotiations between the fund provider and Cameroon.

It is now close to XAF65 billion and shelters Sodecoton from loans in the local banking market where it used to source its fund needs during the previous cotton seasons.

BRM