(Business in Cameroon) - In Cameroon, the National Public Debt Committee CND informs that during the 2019 fiscal year, it regularly held its sessions and ensured the sustainability of the country's public debt.

In that regard ,the CND indicates, as of December 31, 2019, Cameroon's outstanding public and publicly guaranteed debt was updated to XAF8,650 billion, or 38.3% of GDP. Without going into more detail, the CND states that out of the XAF8,650 billion debt, there was XAF6,671 billion external debt and XAF1,979 billion domestic debt.

On January 21, during the annual conference of the central and decentralized services of the Ministry of Economy, Charles Assamba Ongodo, Director General of Cooperation and Integration of this ministerial department, estimated the country's debt at end 2019 to be XAF8,384 billion, i.e. a debt ratio of 37.4% of GDP. The updated debt is therefore up by XAF266 billion in actual value and 1% of GDP in relative value.

According to the committee, Cameroon's debt remains sustainable since the debt ratio (38.3% of GDP) is still well below the Community threshold for the CEMAC zone (70% of GDP). This viewpoint is different from that of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This multilateral partner of Cameroon regularly draws the country's attention to the quality of its debt and the pace of its indebtedness.

In 2019, the IMF, for instance, advised Cameroon not to resort to new non-concessional loans and to strictly adhere to the disbursement plan for loans contracted but not disbursed in order to preserve debt sustainability. “Better prioritization of projects and increased investment efficiency will help meet development needs while promoting prudent debt management,” the IMF advised.

SA