Louis Paul Motaze, Minister of Finance
For its first issue of assimilable Treasury bonds (OTA) in the 2nd quarter, Cameroon hopes to raise 25 billion FCFA on the public securities market of the BEAC (Bank of Central African States), according to a press release from the ministry. finances. To attract investors, Yaoundé revised the interest rate by 25 basis points.
The interest rate backed by this 6-year maturity operation, which will be held April 24 next, is 6.25%. In November 2022, on a similar operation which aimed to collect 20 billion, the country offered 6% interest to subscribers, an upward revision of 25 basis points.
This readjustment of rates comes in a context where investors in Treasury bills are now asking for much higher yields than before. Cameroon has been paying the price since the beginning of the year, according to Beac reports. On March 27, when it was looking for 20 billion on 3-year OTAs, remunerated at 4.25%, Yaoundé was only able to capture 5 billion, i.e. a coverage rate of 16.6%. Three weeks earlier (Editor’s note: March 6), investors only paid him 14 billion out of the 30 billion discounted at the rate of 5.75% for a maturity of 5 years.
The outcome of the operation 24 avril will allow us to see if the market is receptive to this slight recovery. It must all the same be said that the rates offered by Cameroon on its OTAs remain clearly below those of its CEMAC neighbors; which pushes investors to move towards them despite the risks that might result. For example, on a 2-year OTA issued last March, Congo offered up to 5.5%.
