In Cameroon, the accountability for public funds faces persistent challenges due to a lack of transparency. For the 2024 fiscal year, the Supreme Court’s Audit Chamber managed to trace merely 3% of the total subsidies disbursed by the State to public enterprises. This stark figure, highlighted in its report on the execution of the finance law, underscores the significant information deficit hindering the work of Cameroonian financial auditors in certifying accounts.

Report highlights public transfer traceability issues

The financial oversight body, tasked with the judicial review of state and public institution accounts, relies heavily on supporting documentation provided by authorizing officers and beneficiary entities. However, concerning the total financial assistance allocated to Cameroon’s public portfolio in 2024, only a minuscule portion could be unequivocally linked to an 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 government’s ability to monitor the utilization of resources transferred to its various branches. State-owned companies, public administrative establishments, and entities with majority or strategic state participation annually receive substantial allocations, often presented as balancing subsidies, investment grants, or tariff compensations.

Public portfolio under budgetary strain

Cameroon’s parastatal sector encompasses dozens of enterprises operating in crucial strategic areas such as energy, hydrocarbons, transport, telecommunications, agro-industry, and water. Many are structurally reliant on state financial backing to sustain their day-to-day operations or meet their obligations. Notable examples include the National Hydrocarbons Company (SNH), Camair-Co, and Sonara, whose financial woes frequently necessitate high-level state intervention.

Amidst tight public finances, compounded by the imperative to keep the budget deficit below thresholds agreed upon with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the ongoing program, effective management of the subsidy channel becomes a critical public policy objective. The economic and financial program supported by Washington specifically 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 even as Yaoundé has committed, as part of its public finance management reforms, to enhance the flow of accounting information from public enterprises. The establishment in 2017 of a dedicated directorate within the Ministry of Finance to monitor the state’s portfolio 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 limits the depth of parliamentary debate on budget settlement laws, curtails the Supreme Court’s crucial warning function, and deprives multilateral funders, notably the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB), of a reliable basis for calibrating 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 credibility of the sovereign signature is also gauged by the robustness of internal control mechanisms governing budgetary transfers. By publicly releasing these findings, the Audit Chamber fulfills its watchdog role, issuing a clear demand for compliance.

The message conveyed to the executive is unambiguous: without substantial improvements in information reporting, the certification of state accounts will remain incomplete. Practically, this necessitates the widespread adoption of standardized accounting frameworks for public enterprises, the enhancement of budget information systems’ reliability, and the consistent application of sanctions against defaulting managers.