Can the CEMAC capital market finally bankroll Cameroon’s real economy?

At the opening of the first Diamond Capital Convention in Douala on September 24, 2026, Finance Minister Louis Paul Motazé pressed the region’s financial players to deepen capital markets and channel more money into the productive economy of Cameroon and CEMAC. The question now is whether the system can deliver where it has long fallen short.

Finance Minister Louis Paul Motazé chaired the opening ceremony of the inaugural Diamond Capital Convention in Douala on September 24, 2026. The gathering brought together public authorities, investors, financial institutions, businesses, regulators and other market participants to tackle the challenges of financing the economy.

In his opening address, the minister urged players across the financial ecosystem to step up capital mobilisation for the real economy. Those assembled in Douala used the first edition of the convention to exchange views on how to channel more funding toward productive sectors.

Motazé stressed the need to build a deeper, more dynamic and more attractive capital market — one capable of supporting companies, infrastructure and the major economic transformation projects of Cameroon and the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC).

Steering capital toward productive sectors

In his speech, the Finance Minister underscored the importance of strengthening the market’s capacity to raise the resources needed to finance the real economy. The aim is to steer capital more effectively toward businesses, infrastructure and high-growth sectors.

That push covers industrialisation, local processing of raw materials, infrastructure, energy and digital technology — sectors with the potential to create value, drive economic activity and generate jobs.

Savings mobilisation and the trust factor

For Motazé, developing the capital market also means diversifying financing instruments and closing the gap between project promoters’ needs and the resources available from investors. The goal is to build more bridges between capital and projects capable of transforming economies over the long term.

Trust plays a central role in this dynamic. It rests on effective regulation, transparency, the quality of financial information, good governance and investor protection.

Mobilising savings is another key challenge. Building an accessible and credible financial market should gradually bring economic actors and the wider public into the financing of productive activity.

Through this first Diamond Capital Convention, participants were called on to come up with concrete solutions to strengthen financing for Cameroon’s economy and the wider CEMAC region, support productive investment and drive economic transformation.

For Cameroon and CEMAC, the challenge is to turn the capital market into a genuine engine of development — converting available financial resources into productive investment, infrastructure, competitive businesses and jobs.

By Claire Mvondo — Security and State Policy Expert