Cameroon is taking steps to address a housing shortage by constructing and selling 10,000 affordable homes, the country’s Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Celestine Ketcha Courtes has said.

Courtes said, the move, which has been in progress, focuses on the construction of homes for sale to individuals and non-profit organizations.

“The government and her partners will work harder and faster to complete thousands of other apartments to give out to those in need. Our aim is to provide decent and modern homes to Cameroonians,” Courtes said in the capital Yaounde on Monday during an official ceremony to mark the World Habitat Day.

Demand for housing soared early in the COVID-19 pandemic as Cameroonians sought more spacious accommodations for home offices and home schooling, but a shortage of homes for sale and supply chain bottlenecks have driven housing prices sharply higher in the Central African nation, according to officials.

Source: Xinhuanet

Cameroon’s economy is predicted to grow by 4.4 percent next year while economic activity this year will rebound to 3.4 percent compared with 0.7 percent in 2020, according to the country’s President Paul Biya.

In 2022, based on the assumption that the pandemic will be brought under control and economies will open up, coupled with the fallout from the stimulus measures, Cameroon’s economy is projected to grow by 4.4 percent, with 4.7 percent for the non-oil sector and -1.8 percent for the oil sector. Inflation is expected to be contained at 2 percent, below the community threshold of 3 percent, Biya said in a document addressed to government officials.

The document also outlined the country’s proposed budget for the fiscal year 2022, providing insight into top priorities for the Central African nation.

The post COVID-19 recovery plan aims to ensure the structural transformation of Cameroon’s economy with particular emphasis on the continuation of the import-substitution policy required to strengthen the resilience of the economy, Biya said in the document that was made public on Tuesday.

“Specifically, special emphasis will be placed on finalization and commissioning of major first-generation projects, strengthening of social cohesion and decentralization, reconstruction of crisis-affected regions, particularly the Northwest, Southwest and Far North, organization of the Africa Cup of Nations and continued implementation of Universal Health Coverage,” Biya said.

The fight against security threats with a view to sustainably overcoming the pertinent challenges facing the country will be strengthened, according to the document.

Source: Xinhuanet

Businesswoman Rebecca Enonchong was arrested yesterday in Douala following an order from a French Cameroun judge at the Court of First Instance in Bonanjo.

The Littoral judiciary is yet to issue a statement detailing the reasons for her arrest. However, people in the know have hinted Cameroon Concord News Douala city reporter that the arrest is part of an ongoing affair in the Enonchong family.

The Enonchong family has also not yet expressed themselves on the subject.

Founder of AppsTech, a company specialize in business management software in more than 40 countries around the world and president of ActivSpaces, one of the main start-up incubators in Cameroon, Rebecca Enonchong is one of the prides of Cameroon internationally.

In 2020, the 53-year-old was named one of the 50 most influential women in Africa by Jeune Afrique magazine.

She is also known for her commitment to the fight against inequality and bad governance. She does not fail, when the opportunity arises, to criticize the management of affairs by the Cameroonian government. Her political opinions have not earned her friends within the Biya governing apparatus.

By Fon Lawrence with files

Deprived of everything under the Franklin Ngoni Njie administration, CDC-Delmonte workers who had been scraping on FCFA 500 FRS per day are now left with nothing. General Manager Ngoni Njie and his Musonge gang have not raised any alarm ever since the war in Southern Cameroons started four years ago as the workers, abandoned in places like Tiko, Mautu, Mondoni, Ekona and Muyuka slid silently into catastrophe.

“They have become like beggars,” said Cameroon Concord News Fako Bureau Chief. CDC-Delmonte workers have been unable to properly feed themselves or their families and many are being forced out of their homes by landlords.

Many of the workers have their tiny arms immobilized by malnutrition, some have kids suffering from tuberculosis and beneath their poorly equipped “Carabout” houses, the dirt floor is slowly being eaten away by the heavy rains in places like Tiko.

The workers are dying like flies and the toll has continued to climb since.

In 2021, at least 37 CDC-Delmonte workers have died across Fako according to Cameroon Concord News sources in the Southern West region.

More than 3000 workers have been left in abject poverty at CDC-Delmonte estates, spread across Southern Cameroons.

The so-called Dion Ngute government is reportedly helpless and lacks the resources to launch any emergency relief program even though conditions remain grim.  The CDC-Delmonte workers are dying either from malnutrition or inadequate medical care.

Dozens of men have left their families to find work in French Cameroun, but women and children have remained in houses on the estate controlled by Ambazonia Restoration Forces.

The Biya Francophone regime has done nothing to penalize CDC and Delmonte for abandoning their workers and the workers are dying in a system closer to the 19th century than the 21st.

Established by the Germans after the 1884 Berlin Conference, the CDC plantations now being auctioned to French businessmen by the Francophone political leaders in Yaoundé are among the few examples of large-scale organized agriculture in Southern Cameroons

There are several plantations in the two Cameroons but those in Southern Cameroons are widely seen as having the worst labour conditions. Most of the workers live below the U.N.’s $2 a-day threshold for extreme poverty.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

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