The Entrepreneur - Cameroon's Premier Economic & Business Journal

Cameroon University Games - Buea 2012: 'Realizing Windfall Incomes'

Business Operators Reap Profits

By Stephen Njumbe Sako
 
The University of Buea is hosting the fifteenth Cameroon University Games, which kicked-off on May 5, 2012. While athletes slugged out their muscles in intensive competition amongst Cameroon’s nineteen universities and colleges of higher learning, proprietors of local businesses have been busy lining their pockets and smiling into local banks to augment their savings. The games village crammed with shops and grocery stalls has witnessed a twenty-four hour carnival atmosphere. Shops in the Molyko neighbourhood of Buea have kept late-night opening hours to cash on the business fair. Some business men and women have been boastful of their returns due to the high demand of their products. The university games are held once a year, rotating amongst competing institutions. The University of Buea have been proud hosts of the 2012 edition of the games. As a mark of its bullish enthusiasm, the university erected a giant size sculpted elephant on its campus to serve not only as the official mascot of the games, but also as a befitting monument to enshrine the occasion in the hearts and minds of its stakeholders.

Cameroon says 5 billion CFA bond oversubscribed

By Tansa Musa

Cameroon's 5 billion CFA francs ($10.15 million) worth of infrastructure bonds auctioned on February 17, 2012 yielded 14.8 billion CFA in bids with intrest rates ranging from 2.05 to 3.80 percent, the finance ministry said late on Thursday. The bonds, open to foreign investors, mature in August. Cameroon plans to issue a total 285 billion CFA francs worth of treasury bonds in 2012 to fund infrastructure projects. An auction of 10 billion CFA francs earlier in February was also oversubscribed with interest rates ranging from 2 to 5 percent, the finance ministry said. The next auction of 5 billion CFA worth of notes is on Friday, marking the last planned auction for the first quarter. Some 70 billion CFA worth of treasuries will be auctioned in the second quarter.//Reuters

The Southwest Region Budgets Over 13 Billion Francs CFA for 2012

By Stephen Njumbe Sako

The sum of 13,689,522,200 Francs CFA has been voted and launched as the 2012 budget for the Southwest Region of Cameroon. The launching ceremony on Monday, January 16, 2012 at the National Social Insurance Fund was presided over by the Secretary General to the Southwest Governor's Office, Handeson Ketong. The ceremony was attended by senior regional executives, administrators, stakeholders and economic operators in diverse fields of business. Mr Handeson Ketong said the year 2012 has come with remarkable projects earmarked for the region. "The advent of the 2012 fiscal year has come along with new developmental projects for the Southwest. The budget of the state represents the action of the state within every nation," Mr Ketong highlighted.

The WTO has Failed Developing Nations

Ten years after the adoption of the Doha Declaration, the "development" round of trade negotiations has merely offered empty promises. In this short op-ed, Aurelie Walker of the Fairtrade Foundation sums up ten ways in which the WTO membership has failed the world's poor. Overtly biased "trade-related issues" such as rich-country subsidies and the ambiguity of trade rules, have been ignored or intensified by the powerful countries. Furthermore, specifically "pro-development" policies such as special treatment and improved access to vital medicines have been deliberately neglected. Even if international trade could indeed be part of an effort to combat poverty, a model of trade that is based on global competitiveness instead of cooperation is certain to fail, Walker argues...More

Developing Countries to Receive Over $350 Billion in Remittances in 2011, Says World Bank Report

Remittance flows to developing countries are expected to total $351 billion this year, and worldwide remittances, including those to high-income countries, will reach $406 billion for the current calendar year, according to a newly updated World Bank brief on global migration and remittances. The top recipients of officially recorded remittances, estimated for 2011, are India ($58 billion), China ($57 billion), Mexico ($24 billion), and the Philippines ($23 billion). Other large recipients include Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Vietnam, Egypt and Lebanon. While the economic slowdown is dampening employment prospects for migrant workers in some high-income countries, global remittances, nevertheless, are expected to stay on a growth path and, by 2014, are forecast to reach $515 billion. Of that, $441 billion will flow to developing countries, according to the latest issue of the Bank’s Migration and Development Brief, released today at the fifth meeting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development in Geneva...More

Douala Stock Exchange

Le Douala Stock Exchange (DSX) a terminé sa séance de cotation du 28 novembre 2011. Les valeurs SEMC, SAFACAM et SOCAPALM ont clôturé respectivement à 113 306 FCFA, à 54 107 FCFA et à 41 499 FCFA suivant un trend stable. En terme de physionomie de marché, le marché des actions a enregistré un chiffre d’affaires de 829 980 FCFA, correspondant à 20 titres SOCAPALM transigés. La capitalisation boursière se chiffre à présent à 96 540 147 145 FCFA. Pour le marché des obligations, les obligations « MOABI IFC 4,25% 2009 – 2014 », La valeur « ECMR 5,6% net 2010-2015 » et « BDEAC 5,5% net 2010-2017 » restent stables respectivement à 97%, 99.99% et à 100%, pied de coupon. Le marché obligataire n’a enregistré aucune transaction. La capitalisation du marché obligataire s’établit à 219 335 000 000 FCFA.

Cameroon, BEAC see no CFA franc devaluation

By Tansa Musa

Cameroon's finance minister and Central Africa's top central banker both said on Monday there would be no devaluation of the CFA franc currency used by 14 states in Africa, denying market rumours. The CFA franc is currently tied to the euro at a fixed exchange rate of one euro to 655.957 CFA francs, with the peg guaranteed by the French treasury. It was last devalued in 1994 -- at that time versus the French franc -- to allow the heavily indebted countries to export more. "As I am talking to you now, I, as minister of finance, I don't know where this rumour started. I only learnt about it on the Internet," Essimi Menye told reporters in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde.

Cameroon launches Sale of Treasury Bonds to Finance Infrastructure Projects

By Ben Nakomo and Sirri Alette Ngwa

The government of Cameroon has embarked on an operation to raise the sum of 50 billion francs CFA (about 120 Million USD) through the sale of treasury bonds. The proceed from the sale is expected to finance the first phase of major projects earmarked for the 2012 budgetary year. The operation was launched during a meeting that brought together the Minister of Finance and  officials of accredited banks in Cameroon, the Central African Republic and Gabon. The latest sale of treasury bonds by the government of Cameroon follows on the sales of 250 billion Francs CFA (about 600 million US dollars) almost a year ago. This was over subscribed, and the sale was over within seven business days beating  the expectations of government officials.

'Sushi king' Kunene's tribute to Muammar Gaddafi

Businessman Kenny Kunene's 40th birthday party caused uproar when he ate sushi off half-naked models. His 41st was no less colourful or provocative.

Flamboyant South African businessman Kenny Kunene celebrated by dressing up as one of his idols, Muammar Gaddafi, in a flowing cream robe. He surrounded himself with six models wearing camouflage-pattern bikinis and brandishing fake AK47 rifles – an apparent reference to Gaddafi's infamous "Amazonian guard". The multimillion-rand celebrations, held last week in Alexandra township in Johannesburg, also featured pictures of the deposed Libyan leader on huge TV screens. Kunene said he was inspired by Nelson Mandela's loyalty to Gaddafi as a supporter of the liberation struggle in Africa. "I'm very political," Kunene said. "I looked at what's happening in Libya and know Gaddafi was overthrown for oil by America and Britain. I felt that I wanted to celebrate Gaddafi as a living legend for contributing to the liberation we enjoy today. I was celebrating him as a father of the liberation struggle."...More

Planned Expansion at SONARA Oil Refinery

By Simon Tanyi

Despite Cameroon's declining oil reserves, the Country's national oil refinery, SONARA is planning to expand. The upbeat of the officials comes amidst the expanding oil exploration in the neighbouring states of Equatorial Guinee and Gabon, and further afield along the West African Atlantic coast to Ghana. The SONARA refinery is to be equiped to process Ghana's and Equatorial Guinee's heavy crude. To meet its expansion plans, the refinery recently sourced for external financiers. According to Charles Metouk, the general manager, SONARA will soon receive 75 billion CFA francs ($164 million) from eight banks to fund its expansion. This will allow it to increase capacity to 4 million metric tons by 2015 from the current 2.1 million tons. The lender institutions include London headquartered Standard Chartered Plc (STAN), Societe Generale (GLE) SA’s unit in Cameroon, Lome-based Banque Atlantique and Commercial Bank of Cameroon. The refinery, which is currently able to only process light crude, will start refining heavy crude after the refurbishment. © The Entrepreneur Newspaper 2011. All Rights Reserved