(Business in Cameroon) – Banknotes and coins worth 5,363.3 billion CFA francs were in circulation across the six CEMAC countries as of December 31, 2024. This marked an increase from 4,744.8 billion CFA francs a year earlier. According to the 2024 annual report from the Bank of Central African States (BEAC), the issuing institution for the CEMAC region, nearly half of this total circulated in Cameroon.
Specifically, Cameroon saw 2,351.3 billion CFA francs in banknotes and coins circulate during 2024. This amount was twice the 1,084.5 billion CFA francs circulating in Chad, which had the second-highest level of currency circulation in the CEMAC zone that year.
With such a large volume of currency in circulation, Cameroon recorded three times the value of banknotes and coins that circulated in either Gabon or Congo during the same period. The combined currency circulation in those two countries barely reached half of Cameroon’s for the same year.
Indeed, data from the CEMAC countries’ central bank showed only 577.1 billion CFA francs and 612.5 billion CFA francs worth of cash circulated in Gabon and Congo, respectively, in 2024. In comparison, only 319.7 billion CFA francs circulated in the Central African Republic and 418.3 billion CFA francs in Equatorial Guinea, the region’s other oil-rich state.
The concentration of currency activity in Cameroon comes as no surprise, given that the country already hosts the bulk of the region’s economic activity. As Central Africa’s economic engine, Yaoundé alone accounts for about 40% of the CEMAC’s industrial base, making it the community’s most diversified economy.
Moreover, as of December 31, 2024, CEMAC had 56 banks. Nineteen of them, 34% of the region’s banking network, are based in Cameroon. Furthermore, according to official data, banks operating in Cameroon had issued 67.45% of new loans to economic agents in CEMAC by the end of September 2024. They were also responsible for 70% of the funds raised by member countries on the public securities market.
As the main consumption driver of this regional bloc, Cameroon also accounts for 52% of overall consumption in the CEMAC zone, according to central bank data. This makes it a fertile ground for high levels of cash circulation.
Brice R. Mbodiam
