(Business in Cameroon) - For close to a month now, the central bank of CEMAC countries (BEAC) has been implementing a new measure aimed at fluidifying and shortening the deadlines for economic agents’ international transfers.

According to internal sources, a volume of foreign currencies equivalent to €3 million (close to XAF2 billion) is provided to banks operating within the CEMAC region every week. This envelope, the sources indicate, helps the commercial banks directly process international transfers whose volume is less than XAF50 million without going through the central bank.

This volume of foreign currencies adds to the 30% of the currencies repatriated by economic operators that commercial banks have to keep to meet their customers’ current needs (70% of the repatriated currencies set to be transferred to the central bank).

These weekly injections boost the easing measures taken by the BEAC following the currency shortage that arose in the region once the new exchange regulation entered into force in March 2019.

Brice R. Mbodiam