Cameroon has solidified its position as the premier recipient of Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Group funding in Central Africa, capturing nearly 30% of the regional portfolio. The French institution’s 2025 activity report reveals an outstanding commitment of 949.6 million euros, equivalent to approximately 623 billion FCFA, distributed across 51 active projects. This substantial volume places Yaoundé ahead of other regional capitals, including Kinshasa (741.4 million euros), Libreville (646.3 million euros), Brazzaville (484.9 million euros), N’Djamena (308.7 million euros), and Bangui (144.7 million euros).
A detailed breakdown of these commitments highlights the involvement of various entities. The AFD itself accounts for the largest share, contributing 875.8 million euros. Its private sector subsidiary, Proparco, mobilizes an additional 61.8 million euros, while Expertise France supplements the framework with 12 million euros. The overall portfolio comprises 47 AFD-led projects and 4 initiatives managed by Expertise France. Focusing solely on AFD’s contributions, Cameroon alone commands 30.7% of a regional total of 2.8 billion euros as of December 31, 2025.
Infrastructure and urban development: core areas of intervention
The French donor’s regional strategy clearly prioritizes major infrastructure projects. The report underscores that enhancing infrastructure is central to its interventions across Central Africa, citing notable examples like the Nachtigal hydroelectric dam in Cameroon and the modernization of the Transgabonais railway. This strategic emphasis is distinctly reflected in the commitments made within Cameroon during 2025.
Within this scope, infrastructure and urban development initiatives absorb a significant 44.2% of the total financing. Support for private financial institutions follows at 35.9%, ahead of governance (6.8%), education, training, and employment (6.4%), the productive sector (2.9%), water and sanitation (2.2%), and finally, agriculture and food security (1.7%). Among the flagship operations, the Yaoundé and Douala Flood Control Project stands out, aiming to reduce the vulnerability of these two major metropolitan areas to recurring climatic events.
This hierarchical allocation of funds reflects both Cameroon’s considerable infrastructure deficit and the long-standing financial cooperation between France and Cameroon. It also signifies a deliberate choice to concentrate resources on areas that can ultimately reduce logistical and energy costs for both businesses and households.
A financial structure heavily reliant on debt
The composition of financial instruments deployed in 2025 warrants close examination by budgetary analysts. Sovereign loans represent the primary channel, constituting 33.9% of the total. Following this are senior loans (23.2%), Debt Reduction-Development Contracts (C2D) at 16.2%, guarantees (12.6%), European Union delegated credits (7.1%), grants (6.3%), and the Technical Expertise and Experience Exchange Fund (FEXTE) at 0.6%.
In essence, more than half of the financial assistance is provided through repayable instruments. This reality underscores that Cameroon’s status as the top regional beneficiary comes with future debt service obligations, whose sustainability will depend on the effective economic profitability of the supported projects. While C2D, guarantees, European credits, and grants offer some softening, they do not fundamentally alter the dominant, debt-oriented nature of the financing profile.
In the private sector segment, Proparco notably financed Prometal, which the report identifies as a key driver for industrialization and local transformation. Additionally, the SeptentrionEst and SECAL programs, focused on rural areas, are designed to enhance territorial resilience, foster entrepreneurship, and strengthen food security in Cameroon’s northern regions, which are particularly susceptible to climatic and security challenges.
Translating leadership into tangible economic gains
Cameroon’s prominent position in the AFD Group’s portfolio serves as a significant financial indicator, yet it is not an ultimate economic judgment. While the institution’s report does publish aggregated results for projects completed between 2020 and 2025 across sectors like agriculture, health, education, and sanitation, these are presented at a regional scale. Such data do not allow for isolating the specific impact of the Cameroonian portfolio on productivity, urban services, or the stimulation of private investment.
For Cameroonian authorities, the true test lies in the execution phase. The quality of implementation, the timely delivery of projects, their operational efficiency, and their capacity to reduce economic costs will ultimately determine the return on these 623 billion FCFA. Maintaining the leading regional portfolio rank is less crucial than demonstrating, with concrete evidence, that these commitments are genuinely transforming the productive apparatus and essential services across the nation.