Cameroon has raised CFA159 billion from domestic banks, according to the government’s latest public-debt update released at the end of September 2025. The Autonomous Redemption Fund (CAA), which issued the note, said the financing benefits from a partial or full guarantee provided by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank). The names of the lending banks were not disclosed.
Under the revised 2025 finance law, the government was authorised to borrow up to CFA250 billion from local banks with Afreximbank guarantees. The latest operation leaves a remaining margin of around CFA91 billion, subject to any adjustment in the Treasury’s funding requirements.
This marks Afreximbank’s second intervention in Cameroon this year. On 30 June 2025, the institution — led since 28 June by Cameroonian jurist George Elombi — enabled the Treasury to raise CFA200 billion on the Cemac public securities market run by the BEAC.
Afreximbank used a swap arrangement converting euros into CFA francs at the central bank, allowing it to subscribe to Cameroon’s Treasury bills and bonds, which carried yields between 6.5% and 7.5%. The operation made Afreximbank the first foreign financial institution to participate in the Cemac market, which serves Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad and the Central African Republic.
Analysts say the bank’s entry could help deepen a market long dominated by heavily tapped local investors, at a time when regional governments’ borrowing needs continue to rise.
The combination of guaranteed domestic loans and new market tools such as swaps reflects Cameroon’s strategy to diversify its financing sources and lower its sovereign risk premiums. While Afreximbank’s guarantees are easing access to local liquidity in the short term, observers note that attracting foreign investors could, over time, help extend debt maturities and strengthen the regional yield curve provided, Cameroon maintains fiscal discipline, improves transparency around contingent liabilities and coordinates with BEAC to limit pressure on private-sector credit.
