3, September 2026
Cameroon’s CEMAC treasury debt tops CFA 2 trillion 0
Cameroon’s outstanding Treasury securities on the CEMAC public debt market exceeded CFA2 trillion at the end of July 2026, but their annual growth slowed sharply after two years of much faster increases.
The stock reached CFA2.061 trillion as of July 31, up CFA80.4 billion, or 4.1%, from CFA1.981 trillion a year earlier, according to monthly statistics published by the Bank of Central African States (BEAC).
Cameroon had the third-largest stock of outstanding government securities in the regional market. Gabon ranked first with CFA3.424 trillion, followed by Congo with CFA3.041 trillion. Cameroon accounted for 19.5% of the CFA10.561 trillion in government securities outstanding across CEMAC’s six member countries.
Annual growth slows to 4.1%
The increase between July 2025 and July 2026 represents a significant slowdown from the previous two years. Cameroon’s outstanding securities rose by CFA293 billion, or 23.7%, between July 2023 and July 2024. The increase then reached CFA452.2 billion, or 29.6%, between July 2024 and July 2025.
The latest annual increase fell to CFA80.4 billion. The slowdown does not mean that the stock has started to decline, however. It rose by CFA52.1 billion in July 2026 alone, from CFA2.009 trillion in June to CFA2.061 trillion, an increase of 2.59% in one month.
Outstanding securities also differ from the total amount of debt issued by the Treasury over a given period. The figure represents securities that remain unpaid at a specific date and reflects both new issuance and repayments. The outstanding stock alone therefore cannot show whether slower annual growth resulted from lower fundraising, faster repayments or a combination of the two.
Borrowing costs decline from a year earlier
Higher financing costs do not, on their own, explain the slower increase either. The average cost of Cameroon’s Treasury bills, known as BTA, fell to 6.97% in July 2026 from 7.10% a year earlier. The average cost of Treasury bonds, or OTA, declined more sharply, to 7.36% from 8.29%.
Borrowing nevertheless remains considerably more expensive than during the earlier development of the market. In June 2018, Cameroon’s average BTA cost stood at 2.81%, compared with nearly 7% in July 2026.
Bonds account for more than two-thirds of the stock
Of the CFA2.061 trillion in outstanding Cameroonian securities, Treasury bonds accounted for CFA1.394 trillion, or 67.6%. Treasury bills, which mature within one year, represented the remaining CFA666.9 billion, or 32.4%.
Primary dealers held CFA1.433 trillion in Cameroonian securities, equivalent to 69.5% of the total, while institutional investors held CFA562.1 billion, or 27.3%. Investors based in Cameroon owned CFA1.711 trillion, about 83% of the outstanding stock.
The BEAC-organized market has become a major source of state financing, although it is not Cameroon’s only regional funding channel. The government also raises capital through the Central African Stock Exchange (BVMAC). In 2023, it secured CFA176.3 billion there through a multi-tranche bond issue.
Source: Business in Cameroon




















7, September 2026
Douala: US firm Cybastion plans $75 Million AI data center and power plant 0
US company Cybastion plans to invest $75 million, about CFA42.25 billion, in a data center in Douala designed in part for artificial intelligence applications and supported by dedicated power generation capacity.
The project was among the investment proposals presented at the first Cameroon-US Economic and Commercial Dialogue, held in Yaoundé on August 27, 2026. Cybastion describes the planned facility as a “sovereign data center” that would provide computing capacity, storage and other digital services locally. Several critical specifications, however, remain undisclosed. The company has provided no details on the data center’s computing capacity, the size of the planned power plant or the technology that would generate its electricity.
The construction schedule, exact location in Douala and financing structure for the $75 million investment have also not been disclosed. At this stage, the project therefore remains an investment proposal rather than a fully secured financing commitment.
Dedicated Power Generation Capacity
The inclusion of dedicated power generation is one of the project’s distinguishing features. Data centers require a continuous and stable electricity supply for servers, cooling systems and other equipment, while infrastructure designed to support AI applications can require even greater amounts of power.
The issue reflects concerns already identified in Cameroon. A study by the National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies Development (CENADI) on the competitiveness and viability of data centers examined their business models and operating constraints.
Cybastion would not, however, enter a market without existing infrastructure. CAMTEL already operates a Tier III-certified data center in Zamengoé, near Yaoundé. In Douala, ST Digital also operates a private data center equipped with infrastructure dedicated to artificial intelligence. Posts and Telecommunications Minister Minette Libom Li Likeng visited the facility in July 2025.
Cybastion’s project would therefore need to distinguish itself through factors such as capacity, customers, hosting costs and available power. Those details have yet to be disclosed.
A $66 Million Precedent in Côte d’Ivoire
Cybastion already has a comparable project in West Africa. In August 2025, the Export-Import Bank of the United States approved a $66.14 million guarantee to support construction of Côte d’Ivoire’s national data center.
Under that financing structure, Côte d’Ivoire’s Finance Ministry is the borrower, Cybastion Institute of Technology is the exporter and Citibank is the lender covered by the US guarantee. In May 2026, EXIM named the transaction its “Industries of the Future Deal of the Year.”
No comparable financing arrangement has yet been announced for Cameroon. Cybastion’s proposed $75 million investment forms part of roughly $7 billion, or nearly CFA4 trillion, in US commercial and investment opportunities identified during the Yaoundé dialogue.
Cameroon’s Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT), however, says the projects are at different stages of development and describes the announced amounts as investment intentions that still need to translate into concrete projects.
For Cybastion’s project, the next key developments will therefore include the identity of its financiers, the capacity of the data center and power plant, the choice of site, the construction timetable and any commitments made by the Cameroonian government.
Source: Business in Cameroon