(Business in Cameroon) - The overall market capitalization of companies on central Africa’s regional stock market Bvmac reached CFA159.08 billion as of January 31, 2022, up 12.9% YoY.

According to data from the Cameroonian Ministry of Finance, this good performance followed the recent stock launch of Cameroonian microfinance La Régionale for a nominal amount of CFA2.66 billion, and the increase by over eight percentage points in the share price of the Cameroonian Palm Company (Socapalm).

However, experts believe that Bvmac can do better. Barely seven companies are listed on Bvmac in a sub-regional market of more than 54 million people. Some countries in the region have not yet joined the Bvmac revitalization process. These include Cameroon, the Central African Republic (CAR), and Chad, which have all promised since 2020 to list five or six companies each on the market.

The Ministerial Committee of the Central African Monetary Union (Umac) adopted on October 2, 2019, "the regulation on the listing of shares of States and their dismemberments, in companies operating in the Cemac. This instrument aims "to accompany the second phase of the unification process of the Cemac financial market.” As part of this second phase, the Ministerial Committee plans to boost the unified stock market per Article 8 of the Additional Act of 19 February 2018.

Article 8 gave CEMAC member states until February 19, 2020, to "proceed with the partial or total listing on the stock market of their holdings in the capital of public and para-public enterprises, or those resulting from public-private partnerships, particularly in the context of privatization programs. But this process is stalling.

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