• Cameroon backed $44.9M in BDEAC loans to three private firms
  

• Treasury guarantees cover 50% of loans for hotel, plant, logistics projects
  

• Revamped credit scheme targets private sector, SND30 priority sectors

Cameroon quietly activated part of its 200 billion CFA franc (about $335 million) sovereign-guarantee facility in August 2025, allowing three private firms to obtain a combined 26.9 billion CFA francs ($44.9 million) in loans from the Development Bank of Central African States (BDEAC).

According to the public debt report for end-September 2025, BDEAC signed the three loan agreements on August 19, with the state guaranteeing 50% of each facility. The loans went to LP Industrie SA (8.9 billion CFA francs), Groupe Sohaing SAS (15 billion), and Camas SA (3 billion), the National Sinking Fund (CAA), Cameroon’s public-debt manager, said.

The financing will support a rebar plant for LP Industrie, the development of an upscale hotel for Groupe Sohaing, and the purchase of 23 trucks plus the construction of a logistics base for Camas. The guarantee commits the Treasury to cover half the repayment risk if any of the borrowers run into trouble, boosting their creditworthiness and reducing BDEAC’s exposure.

Guarantee Scheme Overhauled

The guarantees stem from a portfolio agreement signed on Dec. 20, 2023, in Douala by Finance Minister Louis Paul Motazé and BDEAC President Dieudonné Evou Mekou, on the sidelines of the bank’s general assembly.

The mechanism implements the government’s pledge, first introduced in the 2021 Finance Law, to support public and private companies seeking credit through the 200 billion CFA franc guarantee window. Initially launched in 2022 with mixed results, the scheme was revamped in 2023 to improve its effectiveness, the Finance Ministry said.

Under the revised structure, 30% of the guarantee envelope is earmarked for public companies and institutions, while 70% is reserved for the private sector. Guarantee coverage is capped at 30% for large companies and 70% for SMEs. Only firms incorporated under Cameroonian law with majority Cameroonian ownership are eligible.

Focus on SND30 Priority Sectors

Guarantee ceilings can rise to 60% for large firms and 80% for SMEs operating in distressed regions, including the Northwest, Southwest, and Far North, affected by the Anglophone crisis and Boko Haram.

Eligible loans can cover working-capital needs or investments in sectors prioritized under the 2020-2030 National Development Strategy (SND30): energy, financial services, agro-industry, digital technology, timber, textiles and leather, mining and metallurgy, oil and gas, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, construction, and services.

Loans that strengthen domestic production of highly imported goods or expand Cameroon’s export capacity will also be prioritized. Refinancing, restructuring, or repayment of existing loans is excluded, said Gilbert Didier Edoa, secretary-general at the Finance Ministry, during a presentation of the revised mechanism to lenders on Aug. 16, 2023, in Yaoundé.

Brice R. Mbodiam, Business in Cameroon