Cameroon has turned to AFG Bank to refinance roughly US$83 million in unpaid state invoices, marking a growing reliance on domestic banking channels to manage public debt and ease liquidity pressures on key suppliers, official data show.
The transactions, carried out through debt assignment agreements in 2025, involved the sale of state receivables to AFG Bank, a financial institution founded by Ivorian billionaire Bernard Koné Dossongui. The mechanism allows the government to convert outstanding commercial obligations into structured bank debt, which is recorded within the domestic public debt stock and subject to defined repayment schedules.
By the end of September 2025, Cameroon’s central government domestic debt excluding arrears and floating debt reached about US$7.08 billion, up 15.5 percent from the previous year, reflecting stronger reliance on domestic financial resources. Within this total, structured bank debt, facilitated largely through AFG Bank, now represents 26.2 percent of the domestic debt stock, compared with a marginal share only a few years earlier.
AFG Bank assumed responsibility for several major receivable portfolios. These included US$50 million from independent power producer Globeleq, covering subsidiaries DPDC and KPDC, US$16.7 million linked to receivables from the Port Authority of Douala, and US$16.7 million owed to state-owned telecommunications operator Camtel. The transactions helped ease immediate cash flow pressures on strategic sectors while providing visibility over government liabilities.
Other commercial banks, including Société Générale Cameroun, Banque Atlantique Cameroun, CCA Bank, and UBA, managed smaller exposures or legacy debt, typically below $16.7 million per agreement. Analysts said the concentration of large-scale assignments at AFG Bank signaled the government’s preference for a single, coordinated counterparty to handle substantial arrears efficiently.
The debt assignment mechanism allows Cameroon to convert opaque, long-standing supplier obligations into formalized financial instruments with structured repayment. The strategy has multiple benefits: it ensures continuity of services from critical suppliers, stabilizes sectors such as energy and telecommunications, and spreads budgetary outflows over time to reduce fiscal strain.
“The government’s approach reflects a shift toward more disciplined domestic debt management, using the banking sector to absorb short-term liquidity pressures,” said an analyst in Yaoundé. “AFG Bank has become a pivotal intermediary in this process, taking on sovereign risk in return for structured agreements backed by budgetary commitments.”
By end-September 2025, Cameroon’s total public debt stood at about $24.32 billion, equivalent to 43.9 percent of gross domestic product, a level considered manageable by regional standards. However, analysts noted that the growing role of structured bank debt signals a structural shift in domestic financing, with increased reliance on banks rather than suppliers or external financing.
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The use of debt assignment transactions has become a recurring feature of Cameroonian fiscal management. By converting arrears into formal instruments, the government improves transparency and allows banks to play an active role in public finance, while suppliers gain certainty over repayment.
Observers said AFG Bank’s deepening exposure to sovereign credit is both an opportunity and a risk. While the arrangements generate revenue and strengthen the bank’s influence in state financing, they also tie the institution closely to government budgetary performance, making it sensitive to fiscal shocks or delays in repayment.
The structured debt assignments completed in 2025 illustrate a broader trend in Cameroon and other African countries, where governments are increasingly turning to domestic financial institutions to manage arrears, stabilize cash flows, and improve debt visibility.
For now, Cameroon’s reliance on AFG Bank appears to be paying off, providing liquidity relief to critical suppliers and reinforcing the country’s domestic debt management framework while maintaining public debt at a sustainable level.
