In Cameroon, in 2025, the government has accumulated more than 200 days to pay suppliers’ invoices, after 120 days in 2023 and 160 days in 2024. The information was revealed on February 6, 2026 in Yaoundé by the Treasury Department at the Ministry of Finance (Minfi) during a coordination meeting of central and decentralized services of this ministerial department.
Minfi justifies these deadline extensions by “a desynchronization between commitments and cash availability.” Furthermore, the Treasury Department of Minfi indicates, “in addition to the extension of payment deadlines, it is observed that disbursements are concentrated at the end of the fiscal year.”
For example, in 2023, more than 30% of expenses were incurred during the last months of the fiscal year, according to ministry figures. It is then learned that during this budgetary exercise, in December alone, the Public Treasury disbursed 38% of the 3.531 billion CFA francs (approximately 6.4 billion USD) paid in December, or 1.338 billion CFA francs (approximately 2.4 billion USD). In 2025, the State paid 1,305 billion CFA francs (2.3 billion USD) in December, or about 37% of the total envelope, while 3,486 billion CFA francs (approximately 6.3 billion USD) had been paid between January and December.
For Minfi, “these payment disparities throughout the year disrupt the State’s cash flow and fuel a backlog that weighs on both businesses and the perception of sovereign risk.” The financial administration complains that “when four out of ten payments are concentrated in a single month, the cash flow cannot absorb the shock. Suppliers wait, some invoices are carried over to the next fiscal year, and delays turn into outstanding payments. These inherited charges reduce, from January onwards, the capacity to finance new expenses.”
Upon analysis, this management of domestic debt contributes to maintaining a high level of arrears. It is in this context that the Chamber of Accounts of the Supreme Court assessed the stock at 926.49 billion CFA francs (approximately 1.7 billion USD) as of December 31, 2024. According to the Autonomous Amortization Fund (CAA), this stock was reduced to 485.4 billion CFA francs (approximately 872 million USD) by the end of September 2025.
Furthermore, delays in settling unpaid invoices weigh down the cash flow of supplier companies. The most affected are Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). On a macroeconomic level, these payment deadline extensions affect the assessment of sovereign risk and influence the analyses of rating agencies.
