(Business in Cameroon) - The Cameroonian Treasury is soon going to complete the repayment of the money it raised on the regional market between 2018 and 2023. The final disbursement under this repayment plan- CFA52.8 billion- is expected to take place next November 15.

CFA50 billion is for the principal of the debt and the additional CFA2.8 billion is the interest, the Central Bank Beac explained. Referred to as "ECMR 5.6% net 2018-2023," this bond issue was initially expected to raise CFA150 billion but ended up enabling the Cameroonian government to raise CFA200 billion thanks to a significant oversubscription by investors, for a total of CFA207 billion. Following approval by the market regulator at the time, the government received an extra CFA50 billion.

The fundraising operation owes its success to nine local banks and financial institutions, which had already underwritten CFA121.5 billion even before subscriptions began. These included the three arrangers of the deal, Société Générale Cameroun, Afriland First Bank, and EDC Investment, and the underwriting syndicate for the public offering, comprising Bicec, Ecobank, UBA, BGFI, SCB Cameroun and Financia Capital.

The financing raised was injected into about forty infrastructure projects currently underway in the country's 10 regions. Officially, over 70% of the funds were used for infrastructure projects in preparation for Cameroon's hosting of the 2019 African Cup of Nations, which was later rescheduled to 2022.