- AFG Bank acquired up to CFA50 billion ($83 million) of Cameroonian state receivables through debt assignment deals in 2025.
- The transactions increased Cameroon’s structured domestic bank debt, which rose 15.5% year-on-year by September 2025.
- The deals strengthened AFG Bank’s exposure to Cameroon’s sovereign credit while easing liquidity pressures on key state suppliers.
As of end-September 2025, Cameroon’s latest public debt report highlighted the growing role of AFG Bank in managing the state’s domestic liabilities. Through several debt assignment transactions, the bank founded by Ivorian billionaire Bernard Koné Dossongui positioned itself as a key financial intermediary in clearing payment arrears owed by the central administration to strategic companies.
In a context of sustained pressure on public cash flows, the Cameroonian state relied in 2025 on a now well-established debt assignment mechanism. Under this arrangement, banks purchase unpaid government invoices from state suppliers and convert floating commercial debt into structured bank debt recorded within domestic public debt stock.
The Autonomous Amortization Fund (CAA) classifies these transactions as structured bank debt, whose outstanding amount rose sharply during the year. By end-September 2025, central government domestic debt—excluding arrears and floating debt—reached CFA4,246 billion, reflecting a 15.5% year-on-year increase and signaling stronger reliance on domestic financial resources.
AFG Bank Takes Over CFA50 Billion of Receivables
AFG Bank appeared explicitly in detailed tables on structured bank debt as the counterparty to several debt assignment agreements signed in 2025. An analysis of domestic debt stock excluding arrears identified three major transactions attributable to the bank, totaling CFA50 billion.
This portfolio included a CFA30 billion tranche linked to the transfer of receivables held by independent power producer Globeleq through its subsidiaries DPDC and KPDC. The portfolio also included CFA10 billion related to receivables from the Port Authority of Douala and an additional CFA10 billion tied to obligations owed to state-owned telecommunications operator Camtel. The figures appeared both in structured debt stock and in actual disbursements, confirming the effective mobilization of funds for the beneficiary entities.
AFG Bank alone accounted for nearly all large-scale new debt assignments recorded during the period. In comparison, Société Générale Cameroun, Banque Atlantique Cameroun, CCA Bank, and UBA reported smaller exposures. These banks mainly managed legacy debt from earlier transactions or handled individual amounts generally below CFA10 billion per agreement. This concentration around AFG Bank reflected a more aggressive stance toward refinancing state arrears, while other institutions focused on managing existing portfolios.
From a budgetary perspective, these transactions supported a reshaping of domestic debt. By replacing long-standing and opaque supplier debt with structured bank debt featuring defined repayment schedules, the state improved liability visibility and eased cash constraints on strategic partners in energy, telecommunications, and port logistics. However, this shift altered debt composition. Structured debt now represented 26.2% of total domestic debt, compared with a marginal share only a few years earlier, confirming a move toward more formalized instruments.
A Banking Strategy with High Sovereign Exposure
For AFG Bank, this trend reinforced exposure to Cameroon’s sovereign credit. By absorbing these receivables, the bank placed itself at the core of state financing channels within a risk framework governed by formal agreements and budgetary commitments. For public authorities, the approach delivered two benefits: it prevented financial distress among essential suppliers and spread the repayment of arrears over time to reduce budget execution pressure.
Beyond transaction volumes, AFG Bank’s recurring role in debt assignments during 2025 sent a signal about the evolution of domestic debt management in Cameroon. The pattern illustrated growing reliance on banking solutions to absorb state liquidity constraints amid tighter fiscal discipline and increased scrutiny of debt indicators. By end-September 2025, Cameroon’s public debt stood at CFA14,591 billion, equivalent to 43.9% of GDP—a still manageable level that masked a structural shift toward domestic bank debt.