A lecture by the Director of Treasury at the Ministry of Finance annual conference last Friday proposed new strategies for financing the economy. The annual conference of officials of the central, decentralised and external services of the Ministry of Finance holding under the theme “2011 Budget and stakes of the diversification of sources of financing the economy” ended in Yaounde last Saturday, 29 January with lectures amongst which featured one from the Director General of Treasury, Financial and Monetary Cooperation, Hamadou Sambo.

In the last lecture delivered on Friday under the theme, “The Public Treasury and Mechanisms for the Mobilisation of Internal Resources for the Financing of the National Economy”, Hamadou Sambo stressed that the attainment of objectives contained in the Growth and Employment Strategy Paper demanded important internal resources beyond fiscal and customs revenue. To that effect, Cameroon had successfully entered the financial markets through bond issues registering a first successful experience in December 2010 with the issuing of bonds worth FCFA 200 billion.

While welcoming the imminent creation of new finance structures such as the Farmers’ Bank and the Bank for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises, he also hailed the role to be played by the new Law on Deposits and Consignments as an efficient mechanism of mobilisation of regulated deposits and administrative-legal consignments for internal long term financing of the economy, especially huge infrastructural projects.

With regards to private sector growth, Hamadou Sambo cited the new Law on Leasing that promotes the acquisition of equipment, tools or buildings for professional use by businesses on a rental basis. Furthermore, he announced the putting in place of a Law on Factoring which is a financing method that enables a business owner to sell accounts receivable at a discount to a third-party in order to raise capital. Similarly, a law has been drawn up to promote capital risk financing which is intended to finance small and medium-size enterprises by providing capital, management assistance and opportunities to enable them gain access to new markets and new technologies. Acknowledging the personnel’s need for capacity-building to manage these new finance instruments, Hamadou Sambo stated that his department was ready to meet its new challenge in mobilising internal resources and ensure a better management of the treasury in order to accompany the growth of Cameroon’s economy through alternative financing mechanisms.