CEMAC organized a round table between investors and donors to finance eleven infrastructure projects.

Despite the pandemic and the lockdown imposed in France, a large ministerial delegation from Central Africa was in Paris on Monday and Tuesday. The France hosted the round table organized by the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) with investors, institutional partners and donors, including the  African Development Bank (AfDB) and the WorldBank    . More than 400 people participated, including 60 on site.

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The major challenge was to raise €4 billion to finance eleven integrative investment projects over a five-year period. An envelope of 709 million was already assured. "We were hoping for 3.3 billion, we are at 3.8 billion dollars," says Michel-Cyr Djiena Wembou, permanent secretary of the steering committee for economic reforms of CEMAC. Gilbert Ondongo, Chairman of this committee and Minister of Economy of the Republic of Congo, highlighted the "paradox" between the annual deficit of $ 100 billion estimated by the AfDB for infrastructure in Africa and the record amounts accumulated in the global financial system.

He painted a gloomy picture of the sub-region, hard hit by the Covid crisis, which is "putting the economy to the test" and "erasing the gains of financial consolidation". This is due to the sharp fall in oil prices, on which countries are very dependent. The region, which could claim 3 % growth this year before the pandemic, is expected to suffer a drop in GDP of 2 % to 4 %. Despite its "immense natural resources" (congo basin forests, hydrocarbons, hydraulics, minerals, etc.), points out Fortunato Ofa Mbo Nchama, president of the Central African Development Bank, the region is "the least integrated and least developed in Africa", far behind basic infrastructure (water, electricity, education, etc.).

Common University

Of the eleven projects grouped into four priority axes, five concern transport infrastructure, roads and bridges. Three relate to the production and interconnection of electricity and communication networks. The construction of two dry ports (logistics hubs) in Beloko, Central African Republic, and Dolisie, Gabon, will contribute to the common market. CEMAC hopes to boost trade by 30 %. It is also planned to create a joint Cameroon-Congo university for an amount of 4.5 million euros.

Three projects - dry ports, hydroelectric dam and fibre optics - will be the subject of public-private partnerships (PPPs). The others will be financed on concessional loans "in view of the debt capacity of each State," says Michel-Cyr Djiena Wembou, who praises "a regional approach". Thus, for the construction of a transnational road, the less indebted countries will be able to bear a larger share of the loan. The governor of the Bank of Central African States wanted to reassure himself on the key criterion of debt sustainability. "The countries of the region are under the IMF program and will enter a second phase related to the diversification of economies and better management of public finances," he explains.

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In the room, in Paris, the observations of the private sector come back in loop on the needs of clarification of PPP arrangements. "Who will be the project owners? Will there be calls for tenders?" asks Charles-Henri Malecot, managing director of the investment fund Stoa Infra & Énergie. "We must take into account the criterion of quality and not only price," says Étienne Giros, of the French Council of Investors in Africa, who also warns of a recurring brake, payment arrears.