In Cameroon, the process of public financial accountability consistently encounters significant opacity. For the 2024 fiscal year, the Supreme Court’s Audit Chamber could only track a mere 3% of all state subsidies allocated to public enterprises. This striking figure, detailed in its report on the execution of the finance law, underscores the considerable information deficit that hampers Cameroon’s financial judiciary in its crucial certification duties.

Report highlights challenges in tracing public transfers

The financial jurisdiction, tasked with the judicial oversight of state accounts and public institutions, relies heavily on supporting documents provided by authorizing officers and beneficiary entities. However, regarding the total volume of financial assistance granted to Cameroon’s public portfolio in 2024, only a negligible portion could be definitively linked to a clearly identified beneficiary and documented execution. The remaining 97% effectively fall outside the scope of verification for financial magistrates.

This percentage is far from trivial; it strikes at the core of a structural governance challenge: the state’s capacity to monitor the utilization of resources transferred to its various branches. State corporations, administrative public institutions, and entities with majority or strategic state participation receive substantial annual allocations, often categorized as balancing subsidies, investment grants, or tariff compensations.

Public portfolio faces budgetary pressures

Cameroon’s parastatal sector encompasses dozens of enterprises operating in vital strategic areas, including energy, hydrocarbons, transport, telecommunications, agro-industry, and water. Many are structurally dependent on state financial backing to sustain their daily operations or meet financial obligations. Examples include the National Hydrocarbons Corporation (SNH), Camair-Co, and Sonara, whose financial struggles frequently necessitate high-level state arbitration.

Amidst tight public finances, compounded by the imperative to keep the budget deficit below thresholds agreed upon with the International Monetary Fund (FMI) under the ongoing program, effective management of the subsidy channel becomes a critical public policy objective. The economic and financial program supported by Washington explicitly emphasizes transparency in financial flows between the Treasury and public entities, viewing it as essential for credible fiscal consolidation.

The Audit Chamber’s findings emerge despite Yaoundé’s commitment, as part of public finance management reforms, to enhance the flow of accounting information from public enterprises. The establishment of a dedicated directorate in 2017 within the Ministry of Finance was specifically intended to bolster this oversight. Yet, concrete results have been slow to materialize.

A matter of budgetary sovereignty

Beyond mere accounting practices, the inability to document the destination and actual use of nearly all public subsidies undermines several strategic initiatives. It restricts the scope of parliamentary debate on budget execution laws, diminishes the Supreme Court’s warning function, and deprives multilateral lenders, notably the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB), of a reliable basis for sizing their budgetary support.

For private investors, particularly those involved in public-private partnerships or concession contracts with Cameroonian public entities, this pervasive opacity presents an additional risk factor. The strength of sovereign credit is also measured by the robustness of internal control mechanisms for budgetary transfers. Nevertheless, by publishing its observations, the Audit Chamber fulfills its watchdog role and publicly demands improved compliance.

The message to the executive is unambiguous: without substantial improvements in information reporting, the certification of state accounts will remain an incomplete exercise. Practically, this necessitates the widespread adoption of a standardized accounting framework for public enterprises, the enhancement of budgetary information systems, and the effective application of sanctions against defaulting managers.