Cameroon launches audit of floating debt to verify arrears

Cameroon's Ministry of Finance has launched a new audit cycle to identify and verify the country's floating debt, covering the period from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2025. This floating debt consists of unstructured arrears, including unpaid supplier invoices, civil servant bonuses and salary arrears, as well as academic, social, and rental debts.

Public administrations, state universities, public enterprises, and decentralized local authorities have until October 31, 2026, to submit their files to the Directorate General of Budget in Yaoundé. The initiative aims to distinguish legitimate claims from duplicates, incomplete files, and fraudulent or fictitious debts.

This follows a previous audit for the 2000–2019 period, which identified a validated stock of arrears totaling between 671.7 billion and 752.1 billion FCFA. The current audit is being conducted as Cameroon negotiates a new financial program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), serving as a measure to demonstrate the state's ability to manage its domestic debt.