Cameroon sharply reduced public investment spending during the first quarter of 2026, according to the government’s 2027-2029 Medium-Term Economic and Budgetary Framework, prepared by the Ministry of Finance (Minfi) ahead of Parliament’s Budget Orientation Debate.
By the end of March, public investment spending totaled CFA45 billion, compared with CFA175.5 billion during the same period in 2025. That represents a decline of CFA130.5 billion, or 74.4% year over year.
As a result, only 2.5% of the investment budget approved under the 2026 Finance Law had been executed by the end of the first quarter. The slowdown was even more pronounced for projects financed with domestic resources, where the execution rate stood at just 0.3%, compared with 5.2% for projects funded through external resources.
“The execution of investment spending totaled CFA45.0 billion at the end of March 2026, compared with CFA175.5 billion a year earlier, a decline of CFA130.5 billion (-74.4%),” the report states.
PROBMIS IA Slowed Budget Execution
The government attributes part of the delay to technical difficulties associated with migrating budget operations to the new PROBMIS IA digital platform.
According to the Finance Ministry, “budget execution at the end of March 2026 lagged behind 2025 for both investment spending (2.5%) and current expenditure (14.7%) because of technical constraints linked to the transition, at the start of the 2026 fiscal year, to the new PROBMIS IA budget management platform.”
In other words, the migration disrupted budget processing during the first months of the year. While both current and investment spending were affected, the impact was far more pronounced on public investment.
The slowdown comes as total authorized government spending reached CFA1,547.1 billion by the end of March 2026, down from CFA1,593.2 billion a year earlier, a decline of CFA46 billion, or 2.9%.
Current expenditure excluding interest payments also declined by CFA80.5 billion, totaling CFA566.1 billion over the period.
External Financing Also Slowed
Technical challenges were compounded by weaker resource mobilization, particularly from external financing. According to the same report, the government secured only CFA137.5 billion in loans and grants by the end of March 2026, compared with CFA327.6 billion during the same period in 2025—a decline of CFA190.1 billion, or 58%.
The Finance Ministry said the slowdown was driven mainly by delays in disbursing project loans, grants, and budget support. Project loans reached only CFA39.4 billion against a quarterly target of CFA206.7 billion, an execution rate of 19%. Grants totaled just CFA100 million out of an expected CFA18.5 billion, while no budget support had been disbursed by the end of March.
Overall, Cameroon mobilized CFA1,331.4 billion in budget resources during the first quarter, equivalent to 15.3% of the CFA8,683.9 billion projected in the 2026 Finance Law. At the same point in 2025, the execution rate stood at 19.6%.
The figures point to a slower start to budget implementation as the government works to resolve technical issues linked to the new budget platform while accelerating the mobilization of external financing.
Higher Risk of Delays for Infrastructure Projects
Together, these factors help explain the sharp slowdown in public investment during the first three months of the year. Investment spending is typically lower in the first quarter because of procurement procedures, administrative approvals, and the gradual rollout of projects. However, the gap with the same period in 2025 suggests a much slower-than-usual start to the public investment program.
The government’s next challenge will be to accelerate disbursements to prevent the delays from affecting the rest of the fiscal year. Public investment remains a cornerstone of Cameroon’s National Development Strategy 2020-2030 (SND30). If spending continues to lag behind projections, key infrastructure projects could be delayed, affecting sectors that depend heavily on public procurement, including construction, building materials, engineering services, and transportation.
While it is still too early to draw conclusions about execution for the full year, the first-quarter figures suggest that meeting the government’s 2026 investment targets will depend largely on its ability to quickly resolve technical issues related to PROBMIS IA and speed up the mobilization of financing, particularly from external partners.
Amina Malloum
