(Business in Cameroon) - On March 28, 2020, the 3^rd extraordinary meeting of the steering committee of the CEMAC Economic and Financial Reforms Programme (Pref-Cemac) was held in Brazzaville, Congo. The only point on the agenda was the economic and financial impacts of Covid-19 on the economy of CEMAC countries and a sketch of possible solutions.

At the end of the meeting, the Ministries of economy and finance of the member countries suggested countries should collectively negotiate the cancellation of their external debts.

According to the release published at the end of the meeting, this collective approach will give CEMAC countries “budgetary margins thanks to which they will be able to both deal with the pandemic and relaunch their economies on solid foundations” after the health crisis.

Let’s note that in its 2019 outlook of African economies, the AfDB revealed that the external debt of CEMAC countries was 27% of their GDP in 2018.  

S.A.