(Business in Cameroon) - In 2018, the 619 microfinance institutions operating in the six CEMAC countries (Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Chad, CAR and Equatorial Guinea) granted XAF493 billion of loans to economic agents.

However, according to the 2018 report just published by the Bank of Central African States (BEAC), at the end of that year, there was still outstanding loans amounting to XAF90 billion in the portfolio of the microfinance institutions. This represents 18% of the customer loans.

This situation can be explained by the fact that loans in this sector, as in the banking sector, are mostly short-term (since deposits are non-confidential money or demand deposits), which puts pressure on creditors and often on mortgages repayments.

This large volume of outstanding loans can also be due to the often high-interest rates charged by many microfinance institutions, not to mention the persistence of a culture of non-repayment among many clients of financial structures.

BRM