(Business in Cameroon) – Cameroon’s central government domestic debt, excluding arrears pending payment by the Treasury, stood at CFA4.246 trillion at the end of September 2025, according to data from the Autonomous Sinking Fund (CAA). The figure represents a 15.5% year-on-year increase, reflecting what the agency described as “strong domestic resource mobilization to meet state financing needs.”
The rise is mainly driven by increased issuance of public securities, which now account for 54.7% of total domestic debt. Treasury bonds (OTA) and Treasury bills (BTA) continue to play a key role in financing the government on the CEMAC regional money market, which includes Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, and the Central African Republic.
Over the first nine months of the year, Cameroon’s outstanding Treasury securities reached CFA2.324 trillion, compared with CFA1.966 trillion during the same period in 2024. Medium- and long-term OTAs, used to fund infrastructure projects, remain dominant, totaling CFA1.345 trillion at the end of September 2025, up from CFA1.1 trillion a year earlier. Short-term BTAs, designed for cash management, stood at CFA568.1 billion, up CFA113.7 billion year-on-year.
This upward trend in public securities is not unique to Cameroon. Other CEMAC member states are also increasingly using the regional money market—created in 2011 by the Bank of Central African States (BEAC)—to cover domestic financing needs.
However, growing reliance on this mechanism increases exposure to sovereign risk. Commercial banks, which serve as Primary Dealers (SVTs) and remain the main investors in Treasury securities, could face financial strain if governments were to default repeatedly on their obligations.
