According to the American rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P), interest charges incurred by the public debt of the state of Cameroon have“considerably increased in 2016”, since they have reached an overall amount equivalent to“5.1% of public revenues” of the country, we learn from a report on Cameroon published in April 2017.
According to S&P, this increase in interest charges is the consequence of the issuance of the first Eurobond in the history of Cameroonian public finances in the month of November 2015. One recalls indeed that having aligned successes on the local and regional markets since 2011, the Cameroonian government tried the international capital markets in November 2015, through the issuance of a first Eurobond, which enabled it to mobilise FCfa 375 billion (out of the 750 requested) at an interest rate of 9.75%.
The funds raised as a result of this Eurobond, S&P reveals, have been used, in part, to“totally repay the bridge loan granted to the government by a consortium of banks, to finance the arrears of subsidies owed to the National Refinery (Société Nationale de Raffinage – SONARA)”, financing then used by this public company to “settle certain supplier invoices”. Indeed, nine months after the launch of the above-mentioned Eurobond, the Cameroonian government contracted a loan of FCfa 143.5 billion from four local banks (BGFI, Afriland First Bank, Ecobank and Société Générale) to finance SONARA. The documents relating to this loan agreement were signed in Yaoundé, the capital, on 10 February 2015.
With businessincameroon
