In a circular on preparing the 2025 budget, President Paul Biya urged the government to adopt a “prudent” national debt policy. He emphasized that “borrowing decisions will be aligned with the 2025-2027 Medium-Term National Debt Strategy.” This strategy, developed by the Ministry of Finance, aims to keep public and guaranteed debt below 50% of GDP and maintain a debt portfolio split of 75% external and 25% domestic debt.
The government was instructed to streamline and manage the “portfolio of projects financed through external funds (FINEX)” by including only mature, priority projects with high socioeconomic impact each year. The head of state also ordered a comprehensive audit of ongoing FINEX programs and projects to assess their performance and close unsatisfactory ones.
The National Public Debt Committee was tasked with ensuring the sustainability of financing offers, including bond issuances and other innovative financial solutions.
Regarding project financing, Biya mandated that new commitments should only be made for projects “demonstrating sufficient maturity.” He stated that “priority will be given to concessional loans, while non-concessional loans will be contracted only for projects with high financial and socioeconomic returns, for which concessional financing is unavailable.”
As of June 2024, Cameroon’s public debt stood at 13.07 trillion CFA francs, representing around 43.3% of the country’s GDP. The Ministry of Finance noted that “the debt sustainability analysis as of the end of 2023 shows that Cameroon’s public debt remains viable, though with a high risk of over-indebtedness caused by low budgetary revenues and exports.” For the upcoming three-year period, Cameroon aims to keep its debt level below 50% of GDP.
