Financing the Economy: Banks Inject More Money

By Godlove BAINKONG, 27-08-2013

Internal loans moved from FCFA 1,403 billion in April 2012 to FCFA 1,672.2 billion same period in 2013. Going by statistics published by the National Financial and Monetary Committee after its meeting in Yaounde on July 18, 2013, loans given by banks to finance the local economy increased by FCFA 269.2 billion between April 2012 and April 2013. The volume of loans, the final communiqué noted, moved from FCFA 1,403 billion in April 2012 to FCFA 1,672.2 billion same period in 2013. Curiously, the banks’ liquidity measured by the ratio of their reserves augmented from 31.7 per cent in April 2012 to 34.4 per cent in April 2013.

The statistics may not be surprising given economic happenings in the country in the past one year. For instance, a consortium of three banks comprising, Afriland First Bank, Ecobank and SCB (Attijariwafa bank) in December 2012 loaned out FCFA 5.5 billion to the country’s spinning, weaving and cloth printing company (CICAM) to help the outfit revamp its production plant in Garoua so as to ably stand national and international competition. One month after (January 2013), another pool of five banks dulled out FCFA 15 billion to beef up the production and processing capacity of the National Cotton Development Corporation, Sodecoton. These included Afriland First Bank, Bicec, Ecobank, CBC and SGBC. Away from that, government has been succeeding in raising funds through the sale of bonds and the contribution of banks is non-negligible. According to Christian Fogaing, Director of Research and Investment in Afriland First Bank, the bank has been contributing significantly in financing the economy of Cameroon. “The amount of loans given out to the economy by Afriland First Bank has tremendously increased over the years moving from FCFA 191, 542 million in 2008 to FCFA 349, 789 million in May 2013. This represents a 54.8 per cent increase over these years. As at May 2013, the percentage of loans given out by Afriland First Bank represents 17.1 per cent of the total amount of loans given out by all the banks to the Cameroon economy,” he said

To a finance analyst, Babissakana, the performance of the banks is but normal as the effective functioning of the central bank trickles down to the economy through the substantial loans that banks inject to the economy. He says the fact that the volume of loans is increasing alongside the liquidity of the banks is no surprise given the increase savings in the banks.  Bank reserves, he disclosed, moved from FCFA 614 billion in March 2012 to FCFA 870 billion in April 2013 representing a 32 per cent increase (FCFA 196 billion).  This is thanks to a FCFA 282 billion increase in clients’ savings which moved from FCFA 2,601 billion in March 2012 to FCFA 2,883 billion in April 2013.