(Business in Cameroon) - On July 5, 2018, while holding a presentation on Cameroon’s public debt, Richard Evina Obam, director of the Autonomous Debt Amortization Fund (Caisse autonome d’amortissement-CAA) made a comparative analysis of the country’s debt during the period 1997-2017.

According to the director, in December 2017, the public debt was CFA6,203 billion or 30% of the GDP. Twenty years earlier in December 1997, it was CFA6,000 billion representing 106% of the GDP (a ratio higher than the maximum 70% allowed by CEMAC).  

"At the time, Cameroon’s public debt was high because the national production was not sufficient to repay the debt contracted thus, the country’s admission to the HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries) initiative", Richard Evina Obam explained.

According to him, the harsh economic reforms which followed helped the country reach the completion point of this HIPC initiative nine years later and benefit from important restructuration of its debt. So, in 2007, the public debt was CFA1,991 billion representing 20% of GDP.

"From that moment on, the public debt remained under control and the country promised to maintain its ratio below 35% or half of the community requirement", the official added.

S.A