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Cameroon is leaning on AFG Bank Cameroon, founded by Ivorian multimillionaire Bernard Koné Dossongui, to refinance a slice of unpaid state bills as pressure on the treasury keeps domestic borrowing steadily elevated.
A monthly public debt report issued by the Finance Ministry and the Autonomous Sinking Fund, known by its French initials CAA, shows that the central government’s domestic debt, excluding overdue payables and so called floating debt, stood at 4,246 billion CFA francs ($7.59 billion) as of Sept. 30, 2025, about 12.8% of gross domestic product. The report lists AFG Bank as the counterparty on debt assignment transactions that transferred up to 50 billion CFA francs ($89.4 million) in state receivables to the bank during 2025.
The largest block, 30 billion CFA francs ($53.6 million), is tied to receivables linked to Globeleq’s Kribi and Dibamba power projects, cited in the report as KPDC and DPDC. Two other assignments are valued at 10 billion CFA francs ($17.9 million) each, involving the Port Authority of Douala and the state telecommunications company Camtel.
Debt assignments are a form of cash advance. Instead of waiting on the state, a supplier or public entity assigns its claim to a bank, which pays immediately at agreed terms and then collects from the treasury later. Officials view the approach as a way to keep projects moving and reduce payment backlogs without an abrupt cash drain.
Arrears have been a recurring problem. The International Monetary Fund has previously pointed to accumulated arrears, including commercial debt, as a drag on private sector activity and a source of fiscal risk in Cameroon, where businesses often rely on government contracts for revenue.
Dossongui’s group has positioned itself to benefit from that financing gap. Dossongui built Atlantic Group over decades, and its financial holding company, AFG Holding, operates banks, insurers, microfinance firms and investment banking units across francophone Africa. In Cameroon, the lender is associated with the Banque Atlantique Cameroun franchise that Dossongui’s network has controlled through its holding structures.
The CAA report shows structured bank debt rising alongside treasury bill issuance, reflecting a broader shift toward domestic markets to plug budget holes. Domestic debt of the public sector, including overdue payables, was listed at 5,045 billion CFA francs ($9.02 billion) at the end of September.
Government officials have not published the pricing or maturity of the AFG assignments. Bankers say such deals typically hinge on the credibility of repayment schedules and the state’s ability to manage cash in a tight funding environment.
