Cameroon raised CFA159 billion from local banks, according to the public-debt update issued at end-September 2025. The Autonomous Redemption Fund (CAA) published the note and confirmed that the new loan, whose lenders remain undisclosed, benefits from a partial or full guarantee from the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).
The government planned up to CFA250 billion in Afreximbank-backed domestic bank borrowing under the 2025 revised finance law. As a result, the Treasury retains a theoretical margin of CFA91 billion to mobilise, barring downward revisions in funding needs.
This operation marks Afreximbank’s second support to Cameroon in 2025.
On June 30, 2025, the pan-African institution — led since June 28, 2025, by Cameroonian jurist George Elombi — enabled the Treasury to raise CFA200 billion on the BEAC-run Cemac public securities market.
Afreximbank relied on a swap structure that converted euros into CFA francs at BEAC for CFA200 billion, which allowed the bank to subscribe to Cameroon’s Treasury bills and bonds (OTA) yielding between 6.5% and 7.5%.
The swap-based arrangement made Afreximbank the first foreign financial institution to intervene in the Cemac public securities market, which covers Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad and CAR. Analysts consider that this entry could strengthen the attractiveness of a market previously dominated by nearly saturated local investors while regional governments face rising financing needs.
The combination of guaranteed domestic bank loans and market innovations such as swaps and foreign participation illustrates a strategy to diversify funding sources and reduce Cameroon’s sovereign-risk cost. In the short term, Afreximbank’s guarantee eases access to local liquidity and lowers bank-required risk premiums. In the medium term, the presence of non-resident investors in Cemac markets could extend bond duration and energise the yield curve — provided Cameroon maintains debt discipline, transparency on off-balance-sheet commitments linked to guarantees, and coordination with BEAC to prevent crowding-out effects on private-sector credit.