By Doh Bertrand Nua
A recently published statistics by the Bank of Central African States, BEAC, has classified Cameroon and Gabonas highest borrowers from the bank’s financial market from among the six member states of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community, CEMAC.
The bank revealed that the total sum borrowed, 4,298 billion FCFA, was higher than the 4,025.4 billion FCFA borrowed last year. The Central Bank puts the gross amount of increase in amount borrowed this year at 246 billion FCFA with Gabon borrowing slightly more than Cameroon.
As per the statistics, Cameroon, as at August 2021, owed 1,032.3 billion FCFA on the central bank’s financial market as against Gabon’s debt of 1,092.7 billion FCFA.The report also deduced that the volume of overall public securities issued by CEMAC countries on the regional market between June 2020 and June 2021 rose by 1,516.2 billion FCFA, due to the dynamism of Cameroon and Gabon in the said market.
BEAC did not explain why the two countries are so much attracted by the regional money market. But finance experts say as the economic powerhouses of the CEMAC region, the countries had to enter the regional and international debt market to source for funds to first consolidate public finances and pursue the coronavirus response initiatives. They also had to raise funds to revive their economies this year after the destructive impacts sustained in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic
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