Cameroon began 2026 with a slight improvement in the BEAC Treasury securities market. According to the report on the "monthly statistics of the Cemac Treasury securities market" published by the central bank, the average interest rate paid to investors on Treasury Bills (BTAs) decreased in January 2026.
The average rate was 6.87% in January, compared to 7.11% in December 2025, a decrease of 24 basis points over one month. This decline comes after several years of upward pressure on the short-term securities segment.
Despite this relaxation, the cost of Cameroonian BTAs remains significantly higher than that observed in previous years. For comparison, the average rate was 2.81% in January 2018. It then followed an upward trajectory: 4.3% in January 2023, 6.4% in January 2024 and 6.62% in January 2025, according to data compiled by the BEAC.
BTAs, short-term instruments used to cover occasional cash needs, thus remain more expensive for the State, in a context of increased pressure on public finances.
The structural increase in rates is largely explained by the intensification of competition in the public securities market of Cemac (Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, CAR). Long dominated by Cameroon and Gabon since its launch in 2011, the market has seen the gradual arrival of the other four states from 2015, with a notable acceleration after the Covid-19 crisis in 2020.
This multiplication of issuers has changed the supply-demand balance. The rates paid to investors have increased, while subscription and coverage rates have decreased. The Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motazé, recalled this on February 19, 2026 in Douala, during the presentation of the State's financing program for 2026: "The observation that emerges from our interventions on the domestic market is that the maturity of securities and subscription rates continue to decline, while exit rates are increasing. Thus, between 2020 and 2025, the weighted average interest rate on BTAs increased from 2.67% to 6.65%".
In this context, the slight easing observed in January 2026 is a positive signal, but still insufficient to reverse the heavy trend of increasing the cost of short-term debt. Indeed, Cameroon plans to issue CFA320 billion in debt securities on the BEAC public securities market in the first quarter of 2026. Of this amount, CFA45 billion is expected to be raised in January exclusively through Treasury bills (BTAs).
Cameroon raised CFA1,318.17 billion (approximately $2.4 billion) on the regional debt market in 2025, but under more restrictive conditions, marked by higher interest rates offered to investors, declining subscription and coverage ratios, and stronger competition from other states. Cameroon's public securities issuance program on the money market plans net borrowing of CFA400 billion in 2026.
