US authorities have seized a Cameroon-flagged small clean products tanker over alleged North Korean sanctions breaches the US Justice Department said in a statement.

A New York federal court entered a judgement of forfeiture over the 2,734 DWT oil products tanker Courageous on Friday.

The US administration alleges the Cameroonian vessel was used for ship-to-ship transfer of oil products with North Korean vessels.

Shelter Afrique has received USD 3,529,801.29 from the Government of Cameroon in additional capital subscription increasing its shareholding by 2% from the current shareholding of 3.61% to the revised shareholding of 5.24%.

Cameroon, which recently acceded to the helm of the Institution at the recently concluded 40th Annual General meeting has indeed demonstrated true leadership and commitment to strengthening of Shelter Afrique’s capital base. The Cameroon Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Her Excellency Madame Celestine Ketcha Courtes was newly appointed as President of the Shelter Afrique General Assembly at the Shelter Afrique AGM which was held in Yaoundé, Cameroon on the 24th June 2021.

In expressing gratitude to the Government of the Republic of Cameroon, The Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer commented after receiving the capital funding as follows:

“We are grateful for the unwavering support of the President of the AGM Bureau, Her Excellency Madame Celestine Ketcha Courtes and for the instrumental role she played in ensuring this capital commitment is honoured. We are confident that Shelter Afrique will benefit immensely form her leadership as the President of the 40th Annual General Meeting,” Mr Chimphondah said. 

Capital Calls

In 2013 and 2017 Shelter Afrique shareholders signed up to recapitalize the Company by way of additional equity subscriptions and has since received a total of USD $96 million dollars from various shareholders.

“Even with the COVID-19 pandemic, Cameroon has shown willingness to sustain its support for Shelter Afrique. This is a demonstrable strong vote of confidence by Cameroon in Board and Management the Company. This capital injection will go a long way in supporting the Company’s ambitious plans to drive substantial capital investment into the low-cost housing sector,” Mr. Chimphondah said.

“We also wish to thank several other shareholders such as Kenya, Nigeria, Mali, Namibia, Rwanda Uganda, Togo, Zimbabwe Morocco, Lesotho, and Swaziland for their positive response to the call for recapitalization” the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive said.

Cameroon expects its economy to rebound this year, with the growth rate coming close to pre-pandemic levels.

The government sees output expanding 3.4% in 2021, compared with 0.7% last year, Cameroonian Economy Minister Alamine Ousmane Mey said in an interview in Ivory Coast’s economic capital, Abidjan. The central African economy grew 3.7% in 2019.

As part of its 2030 strategy, Cameroon is focused on “the structural transformation of its economy toward industrialization, more integration, and growth that is more inclusive, sustainable and green,” he said.

The fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has weighed on the country’s finances. President Paul Biya called for a 13% increase to proposed spending in the 2021 budget to 5.5 trillion CFA francs ($10 billion) as his administration seeks to pay down debt and respond to Covid-19. In a bid to cut costs, Cameroon also sold 685 million euros of 11-year securities last month to refinance more expensive debt issued in 2015.

Amid its fiscal challenges, an audit by Cameroon’s Supreme Court found there was corruption and mismanagement involving 180 billion CFA francs ($326 million) spent on the pandemic response in the period up to Dec. 30, according to court papers. The International Monetary Fund last year provided the country with $382 million of emergency funding to deal with the virus.

A parliament hearing scheduled to discuss the audit was canceled last month, as civil society and opposition groups asked for accountability. The IMF itself called for an independent audit before disbursing funding for a new program.

Mey declined to comment on the corruption probe.

Cocoa Control

Cameroon trails neighbors, Ghana and Ivory Coast, as the world’s fifth-biggest cocoa grower. The two countries, which account for nearly 70% of global production, have joined forces to secure a pay rise for their farmers by charging companies from Cargill Inc to Nestle SA a premium of $400 for every ton of the bean.

Alex Assanvo, the new executive secretary of Ivory Coast-Ghana Cocoa Initiative, said last month the organization could eventually open up to new members in a bid to exert more control over prices.

“Cameroon continues to develop partnerships to ensure that farmers are the main beneficiaries of this activity in terms of value chain integration and transformation,” Mey said in response to a question about plans to join the initiative. “When the time comes, Cameroon will make the right choice.”

Source: Bloomberg

Luc Magloire, the Minister of Commerce, has written to Cimenteries du Cameroun (CIMENCAM) threatening to close its production facilities if it raises its prices without approval. In the letter the minister accused the subsidiary of LafargeHolcim of increasing its wholesale prices and of preparing to do so again without consent, according to the Ecofin Agency. Prices have reportedly risen by up to 8% in some places.

Friction occurred between the government and CIMENCAM in 2020 when LafargeHolcim renewed the term of Benoît Galichet as the chief executive officer of its local subsidiary. The government, a large minority shareholder of the company, opposed the decision. The government and the cement producer have also disagreed previously over the price of cement.

Source: Global Cement News

Cameroon has issued a EUR685 million ($812.20 million) eurobond with 5.95% coupon, proceeds from which will help refinance a 2015 eurobond, the finance ministry said in a statement.

The bond, with an 11-year maturity, was oversubscribed, with an orderbook of EUR2.258 billion, it said.

($1 = 0.8434 euros)

Source: Reuters

Cameroon signed a deal on Friday with two China-linked companies to construct a railway from the coast to a large cross-border iron deposit, the state broadcaster said, even as it faces legal action over the project from Australia’s Sundance Resources.

Sundance has filed for international arbitration and billions of dollars in damages, saying Cameroon and Congo Republic have violated contracts by developing the Mbalam-​Nabeba project with Chinese investors.

Cameroon’s mines minister and transport minister signed the memorandum of understanding to construct the rail link from Mbalam to the southern port of Kribi with representatives of Aust-Sino Resources and Bestway Finance, the state broadcaster CRTV said in a post on Twitter.

The ministries did not respond to a request for comment.

Bestway Finance is registered in Hong Kong. Mining company Aust-Sino is based in Australia, but some of its board members have close links to China, according to its website.

Aust-Sino, which was a major backer of Sundance until last year, did not respond to a request for comment. Bestway could not be reached.

Congo Republic revoked Sundance affiliate Congo Iron’s permit for the Congolese part of the project in December and awarded it to little known company Sangha Mining Development Sasu, which is backed by Bestway.

Mining has yet to start at Mbalam-​Nabeba, which has an estimated 775 million tonnes of iron ore. Over 500 kilometres (310 miles) of rail needs to be built to transport the ore to the coast.

Projects requiring significant infrastructure investment have become more viable due to a surge in iron ore prices, which hit a record high in May as a rebound in demand for the key steel-making ingredient from top consumer China outpaced supply.

Source: Reuters

Except for the Igbos, all big businesses in Nigeria have political backing and many Nigerian political elites have been urging business tycoons to weigh in on politics and make huge campaign contributions.

This situation is also true in Cameroon where all CEOs running major corporations are chartered members of the ruling CPDM party also known as the crime syndicate.

The recent meeting between the 88-year-old President Paul Biya and Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote in Yaoundé, heralded the view that businesses have a right to participate in the political process.

Aliko Dangote’s trip to Cameroon was to weigh into a highly incendiary issue-the war in Southern Cameroons. To be accurate, it was a mission designed to placard the international business community that Cameroon is stable and that the war-torn country is still attracting prominent investors.

Dangote finally met the man that the French government has been using to fight against his cement empire in Francophone Africa and of course the Unity Palace meeting will invite serious consequences in the long term.

There is no African leader alive who’s benefited more from corporations’ spending money on politics than President Biya who continue to receive millions of US dollars from Elf, Exxon, Brasseries, and Euro-Oil in corporate donations to guarantee his stay in power.

It was stupid for Mr. Dangote to say the things he said about the butcher of Yaoundé which revealed that he (Dangote) was playing a key role on the divisive political issues in Cameroon. A growing number of consumers of Dangote cement in Cameroon are demanding that Dangote and his brands stand up for human rights whether the issue is controversial or not. Mr. Dangote avoided this area during his conversation with Biya.

Correspondingly, Cameroonian consumers want Dangote to be more human, to have a social conscience, to care about the Southern Cameroons refugees living under horrible conditions in Nigeria, Southern Cameroons women and children displaced by the fighting, and the poor in the country and so on and this requires him to follow the example of Mo Ibrahim and take a stance on political and social issues.

So our Cameroon Concord Group warning to Aliko Dangote is to stay out of Cameroon. The meeting with Biya was very irritating and Dangote’s reckless and tactless comments to the French Cameroun media must be condemned. The French Cameroun genocidal campaign going on in Southern Cameroons has put Dangote on the spotlight for the wrong reasons- In Cameroon today, saying nothing can be riskier than saying something.

English speaking Cameroonians were not expecting a business magnet of Dangote’s pedigree to receive an award or state honour from a man with so much blood in his hands. Dangote should instead join forces with Mo Ibrahim and campaign for multinationals to stop making political donations to dictators like Biya.

It is regrettable that the sense of urgency on Dangote’s Cameroon visit came only after the EU and US business regulators hinted that Cameroon was no longer safe for foreign investments.

This begs the question: What role, if any, do you think Dangote’s expressed interest in Cameroon’s oil and gas sector would play in the divided nation’s political discourse? Both French and British Southern Cameroonians don’t separate individuals from businesses anymore and consequently, Dangote’s statement on CRTV has damaged his business in Cameroon.

We of the Concord Group believe and fervently too that Aliko Dangote whose fortune has been linked to the military dictatorship in Nigeria for more than three decades, should concentrate on buying Arsenal Football Club than investing in Cameroon’s oil and gas.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Cameroon plans to tap international markets for the second time in six years as the Central African nation seeks resources to finance an expanded budget.

The government may sell a 10-year or 12-year euro-denominated bond after a series of investor meetings that commenced Wednesday, according to people familiar with the transaction. The country appointed Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase and Co. and Societe Generale SA to manage the sale, the people said.

The government increased proposed spending in its 2021 budget by 13% to 5.5 trillion CFA francs ($10 billion) as it seeks to reduce debt and pay for programs to counter the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Cameroon raised $750 million at 9.5% in its international debt-market debut in 2015. The yields on those bonds maturing in 2025 have dropped 187 basis points this year, and were at 5.06% by 12:30 p.m. in London. The country has made an offer to buy back some of the securities, depending on the success of the new offer.

The sale comes at a time when debate about the speed at which the U.S. Federal Reserve will roll back stimulus is putting upward pressure on global yields. Negative yields on German benchmark 10-year bonds are inching closer to zero, trading around -0.173% on Thursday.

Cameroon, assessed at sub-investment grade B by Fitch Ratings and a notch lower by S&P Global Ratings, follows Benin, Ivory Coast and Senegal as sub-Saharan African nations to raise euro-denominated debt this year, and Ghana and Kenya that sold dollar bonds.

Source: Bloomberg