Next bond's interest rate of 5.5% to be paid after 5 yrs

The bond of 150 billion CFA francs that the State of Cameroon will launch in the next few days at the Douala stock exchange (DSX), will hit an annual interest rate of 5.5%, a benefit of policy holders that will be refunded after 5 years, according to a source familiar with the matter.

This interest rate is the lowest of the three public offerings launched by the State of Cameroon since 2010.

Indeed, for its first bond issue in history in December 2010 (200 billion CFA francs) the State of Cameroon proposed to purchasers an interest rate of 5.6%, against 5.9% for the December 2013 borrowing (50 billion CFA francs).

Lowering thereby the interest rate for its 3rd major operation in the capital market, the State of Cameroon draws lessons logically from the excitement expressed by investors for its Treasury bonds.

Evidently, while the state sought only 50 billion CFA francs for the loan in December 2013, investors had served up to 80 billion CFA francs. In 2010, for the inaugural transaction, on a budget of 200 billion CFA francs expected, 203 billion CFA francs were finally mobilized.

Arranged by CSB Cameroon, a subsidiary of Moroccan banking group Attijariwafa, the public offering that Cameroon is preparing to launch was originally scheduled for June 2014, but had to be postponed to October, officially for lack of mature projects for funding.