Cameroon, like many African economies, has struggled for several years with diminishing access to traditional external funding sources, such as concessional multilateral loans, official development assistance, and increasingly expensive international bond markets. In this challenging environment, the strategic mobilization of domestic savings, both public and private, has become an urgent necessity. This critical function is precisely what the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDEC) in Cameroon fulfills, having been operationalized by presidential decree on January 20, 2023, fifteen years after its legal establishment through a 2008 law.

1. A proven blueprint: lessons from the French Caisse des Dépôts

The French experience with its Caisse des Dépôts demonstrates how a national deposit fund can transform idle savings into a powerful engine for structural development. This is achieved through three core mechanisms:

– The centralization of regulated resources (such as Livret A savings accounts, notarial funds, and inactive accounts) within a secure public institution.

– The strategic conversion of short-term deposits into long-term loans, backed by a state guarantee.

– A significant leverage effect: every euro of centralized savings is utilized to finance essential infrastructure, including social housing, urban renewal projects, fiber optic networks, and transport systems.

Cameroon’s CDEC is designed to replicate this successful model. Its primary mission involves collecting, safeguarding, and generating long-term returns from resources that would otherwise remain idle, directing them towards supporting vital public policies and boosting Cameroon infrastructure financing.

2. CDEC’s progress: measurable growth and impact

Available data confirms CDEC’s rapid development and increasing momentum:

Legal Framework and Mobilizable Resources

The foundational 2008 law and its 2011 implementing decree delineate CDEC’s resources into four distinct categories: deposits (including notaries’ funds and inactive bank accounts), administrative consignments (such as public procurement guarantees), judicial consignments (like bail bonds and judicial settlements), and a fourth assimilated category.

Coercive Collection Mechanism

A Prime Minister’s decree issued on December 1, 2023, mandated that banks, insurance companies, notaries, and court registries transfer their consigned funds within a specified timeframe. Failure to comply incurs external audits and late payment interest, calculated at the BEAC marginal lending facility rate plus two points. This stringent legal framework ensures the effective and rapid accumulation of resources for CDEC, bolstering Cameroon infrastructure financing efforts.

Three-Year Results

Three years after becoming operational, CDEC successfully centralized over 151 billion FCFA (approximately 260 million USD). While this figure represents a significant achievement, it remains proportionally lower than the identified potential, with earlier estimates suggesting more than 1,000 billion FCFA lay dormant within the banking system.

3. The banking subsidiary: a key to infrastructure transformation

The most pivotal component for CDEC’s ambitious infrastructure goals is the proposed dedicated banking subsidiary, for which a feasibility study commenced in February 2025. This subsidiary is explicitly designed to:

– Support the State, decentralized territorial communities (CTD), and enterprises in raising funds for critical infrastructure projects.

– Assist Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) seeking to participate in public procurement contracts.

– Facilitate initial public offerings (IPOs) and evaluate new business opportunities.

– Offer long-term financial products, including loans, guarantees, and leasing, specifically tailored for Cameroonian stakeholders.

This function structurally aligns CDEC with the French CDC’s “Banque des Territoires” model, marking a decisive transition from a mere depository of regulated funds to a patient, long-term investor committed to the real economy and robust Cameroon infrastructure financing.

4. Potential application areas in Cameroon

– Housing: CDEC can provide crucial funding for social housing initiatives and support the national 10,000 housing unit program, drawing inspiration from France’s HLM loan system.

– Urban Infrastructure: Investments will target urban road networks and sanitation projects in major cities like Yaoundé and Douala, mirroring French initiatives such as ANRU and the Grand Paris Express.

– Digital Sector: Expanding high-speed internet coverage beyond metropolitan areas is a key focus, similar to France’s rural fiber optic deployment.

– Local Communities: CDEC will offer loans and financial support to decentralized territorial communities (CTD), bolstering Cameroon’s decentralization policy.

– Transport: Significant funding can be directed towards vital road corridors, the Port of Kribi, and the development of a national railway hub, echoing French highway concession models.

5. Conditions for success and areas of vigilance

A comparative analysis reveals several indispensable prerequisites for CDEC’s success; without them, the institution risks remaining an underutilized tool:

– Effective Collection: The persistent resistance from certain banks to transfer due funds (with only one institution, Allianz Cameroun, having completed an effective transfer by late 2023) indicates that resource mobilization remains an ongoing challenge.

– Governance and Transparency: The institution’s credibility among savers and consignees is paramount and directly impacts the volume of voluntary deposits.

– Technical Expertise in Project Financial Engineering: Unlike a simple depositary, infrastructure financing demands specialized expertise in project debt structuring, risk assessment, and guarantee frameworks.

– Coordination with Other Funders: Seamless articulation with other financial partners (such as the implicit Cameroonian equivalent of Bpifrance, multilateral donors, and the Public Treasury) is essential to avoid duplication and maximize the leverage effect for Cameroon infrastructure financing.

In summary, Cameroon’s Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations possesses the necessary legal, institutional, and now operational foundations to evolve into a vital tool for infrastructure development, following the successful model of the French Caisse des Dépôts. Its capacity to transform dormant regulated savings, currently estimated at several hundred billion FCFA, into long-term funding for infrastructure represents a credible endogenous solution to the scarcity of external financing. The announced creation of a dedicated banking subsidiary for infrastructure financing marks a decisive shift from a collection-focused approach to one of structured investment. The ultimate success of this transformation will depend on the effective coercive collection of outstanding funds and the rapid development of internal competencies in project financial engineering, crucial for advancing Cameroon’s economic development.