Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations: transforming Cameroon’s dormant savings into development engines
In the words of economist Patrick Duprix Anicet Mani: « Cameroon, like most African economies, has struggled for years with shrinking access to traditional external financing—concessional multilateral loans, development aid, and increasingly costly international bond markets. In this challenging landscape, mobilizing domestic savings—both public and private—has become a strategic imperative. This is precisely the role the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDEC), formally activated by presidential decree on January 20, 2023—fifteen years after its legal creation under the 2008 law—is designed to fulfill.»
From French model to Cameroonian reality: the proven mechanics of a development engine
The French Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC) has long demonstrated how dormant savings can be transformed into a structural development tool. This is achieved through three core mechanisms:
- Centralization of regulated resources: pooling regulated savings such as Livret A accounts, notary funds, and dormant bank accounts into a secure public institution.
- Term transformation: converting short-term deposits into long-term loans, backed by state guarantees.
- Leverage effect: each unit of centralized savings finances large-scale infrastructure—social housing, urban renewal, fiber optic networks, and transportation.
The Cameroonian CDEC replicates this architecture. Its mission is to collect, secure, and invest long-term resources that would otherwise lie idle, channeling them into public policy priorities.
Operational progress: measurable momentum since 2023
The CDEC is already making tangible progress. Its legal framework, established in 2008 and refined in 2011, identifies four key resource categories:
- Deposits: notary funds and inactive bank accounts.
- Administrative consignments: performance bonds for public contracts.
- Judicial consignments: bail payments and court settlements.
- A fourth category encompassing other eligible funds.
To accelerate collection, a Prime Minister’s decree issued on December 1, 2023 mandated banks, insurers, notaries, and court registries to transfer consigned funds within a strict timeline—subject to external audits and penalty interest rates based on the BEAC’s marginal lending rate plus two percentage points. This legal framework ensures the rapid scaling of resource mobilization.
Three years into operation, CDEC Director General Richard Evina Obam announced the centralization of over 151 billion FCFA (approximately $260 million)—a significant milestone, though still far below the estimated potential of over 1,000 billion FCFA in dormant assets within the banking system.
A banking subsidiary to unlock infrastructure financing
The most transformative step is the planned banking subsidiary, with feasibility studies launched in February 2025. This dedicated institution is designed to:
- Support state and local governments in raising capital for infrastructure projects.
- Empower SMEs to participate in public procurement.
- Facilitate IPOs and business opportunity assessments.
- Offer long-term financial products—loans, guarantees, and leasing—tailored to Cameroon’s economic actors.
This initiative mirrors the French CDC’s Banque des Territoires model, shifting the CDEC from a passive fund manager to an active, patient investor in the real economy.
Where CDEC funding can make an impact
The CDEC’s model can be applied to key sectors:
- Housing: financing social housing, such as the 10,000-housing program.
- Urban infrastructure: improving roads and sanitation in major cities like Yaoundé and Douala.
- Digital connectivity: expanding high-speed internet access beyond urban centers.
- Local governance: providing financing to decentralized territorial communities.
- Transportation: developing road corridors, the Kribi port, and railway hubs.
Critical success factors and risks
Despite progress, several conditions must be met to ensure the CDEC fulfills its potential:
- Effective resource collection: some financial institutions, such as Allianz Cameroun, have already transferred funds, but broader compliance remains a challenge.
- Strong governance and transparency: credibility with depositors and consignors is essential to attract voluntary savings.
- Technical expertise in project finance: infrastructure financing requires specialized skills in debt structuring, risk assessment, and guarantee mechanisms.
- Coordination with other financiers—including national and multilateral institutions—to avoid duplication and maximize impact.
In summary, the CDEC is well-positioned to become Cameroon’s primary engine for infrastructure financing. With a solid legal and institutional foundation, and now an operational framework, it can transform dormant savings—estimated in the hundreds of billions of FCFA—into long-term investment for national development. The launch of its dedicated banking subsidiary marks a crucial shift from collection to strategic investment. Success now hinges on enforcing mandatory fund transfers and rapidly building internal project finance expertise.