Cameroon’s audit chamber uncovers vast opacity in public subsidy tracking

Public financial accountability in Cameroon is consistently hampered by a persistent lack of transparency. For the 2024 fiscal year, the Supreme Court’s Audit Chamber could only verify the allocation of a mere 3% of all state subsidies provided to public enterprises. This stark figure, detailed in its report on the execution of the finance law, underscores the significant information deficit faced by Cameroonian financial judges in their crucial certification work.

Report highlights traceability challenges for public transfers

The financial jurisdiction, tasked with the judicial oversight of state accounts and public institutions, relies heavily on supporting documents submitted by authorizing officers and beneficiary entities. However, regarding the total financial assistance granted to Cameroon’s public portfolio in 2024, only a minimal portion could be definitively linked to a clearly identified beneficiary and documented execution. The remaining 97% effectively falls outside the scope of verification for financial magistrates.

This percentage is far from trivial; it strikes at the core of a structural governance issue: the state’s capacity 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, presented variously as balancing subsidies, investment grants, or tariff compensations.

Public portfolio under budgetary pressure

Cameroon’s parapublic sector encompasses dozens of enterprises operating in strategic sectors, including energy, hydrocarbons, transport, telecommunications, agro-industry, and water. Many are structurally dependent on state financial support to sustain their daily operations or meet their obligations. This includes entities like the National Hydrocarbons Company (SNH), Camair-Co, and Sonara, whose financial difficulties frequently necessitate high-level government arbitration.

In a climate of strained public finances, compounded by the imperative to keep the budget deficit within thresholds agreed upon with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the current program, effective management of the subsidy channel becomes a critical public policy objective. The economic and financial program supported by Washington specifically emphasizes the transparency of financial flows between the Treasury and public entities, a prerequisite for credible fiscal consolidation.

The Audit Chamber’s findings emerge despite Yaoundé’s commitment, 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, focused on monitoring the state’s portfolio, was specifically intended to bolster this oversight. Yet, tangible results have been slow to materialize.

An issue of budgetary sovereignty

Beyond simple accounting, the inability to document the destination and actual use of nearly all public subsidies undermines several strategic initiatives. It restricts the scope of parliamentary debate on the budget settlement law, diminishes the Supreme Court’s critical alert 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 introduces an additional risk factor. The quality of sovereign credit is also measured by the robustness of internal control mechanisms for budgetary transfers. Nevertheless, by publishing these observations, the Audit Chamber fulfills its watchdog role and publicly demands compliance.

The message to the executive branch is unequivocal: without substantial improvements in information reporting, the certification of state accounts will remain a partial exercise. Practically, this necessitates the widespread adoption of a consistent accounting framework for public enterprises, the enhancement of budgetary information systems, and the effective application of sanctions against defaulting managers.