(Business in Cameroon) - Proparco (the French Development Agency’s subsidiary focused on private sector development) recently announced that it has signed a partnership agreement with Société Générale Cameroon to guarantee loans (€5 million or a little over XAF3 billion) granted by this bank to Cameroonian SMEs and SMIs impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The deployment of this exceptional guarantee, which is a new tool that was set up in the framework of Choose Africa's resilience component, will enhance our actions towards Cameroonian SMEs, particularly those that are severely affected by the current crisis. We are pleased to be able to count on a partner such as Société Générale to meet the needs of these companies and preserve their job creation capacity," said Audrey Maignan, Proparco's Regional Director for Central Africa.

"Companies (employing less than 200 people) affected by the crisis will receive 12 to 48 months of loans after reviews of the funding requests. Up to 80% of these loans, which could represent up to 3 months of the beneficiaries’  2019 turnover, will be guaranteed by the French Development Agency," an official release explains.  

Let’s note that since November 2020, Société Générale Cameroon has (thanks to partnerships with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the State of Cameroon) dedicated a XAF35 billion credit line to support SMEs and SMIs affected by the coronavirus pandemic. With the new guarantee, the distribution of these credits can be boosted and enhanced.

BRM