(Business in Cameroon) - President Paul Biya just signed a decree empowering the Minister of the Economy to reach a financing deal with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank). The agreement will see the lender grant CFA35 billion to finance the solar electrification of 200 localities in the country.

This investment is the 3rd phase of the project to electrify 1,000 localities with solar energy, which was launched in 2016 in partnership with Huawei Technology. The first two phases, which are still being implemented, will electrify 165 and 184 Cameroonian localities respectively.

Beyond improving rural electrification, which the Rural Electrification Agency (AER) estimated at only 20%, the solar electrification project will help diversify the country's energy mix. Currently, Cameroon’s energy mix is largely dominated by hydroelectricity, while solar, wind, and biomass represent barely 1%, according to official data.

BRM