Cameroon Opens New Arrears Audit With CFA288.8 Billion From Previous Review Still Unpaid

Cameroon has launched a new audit of unpaid government obligations accumulated between 2020 and 2025, even as CFA288.8 billion from the previous review remains to be cleared. The exercise will establish how much additional debt has built up across government entities over the past six years.

In a circular dated August 19, 2026, Finance Minister Louis Paul Motazé asked government agencies and public bodies to submit claims covering the 2020-2025 period to the Directorate General of Budget by October 31.

The review covers ministries, state universities, public institutions and companies, as well as decentralized local authorities. Its purpose is to determine the amount of unstructured debt claimed against these entities since 2020.

The Finance Ministry defines floating debt as unstructured claims made by third parties against the central government and its related entities. The total can only be established after the claims have been identified, supporting documents reviewed and the amounts validated through an audit.

Motazé said the new exercise was necessary to “curb the debt spiral, which constitutes a major risk that continually undermines the stability of public finances.” Officials have also been instructed to take steps to prevent new arrears from accumulating within their institutions.

Previous audit revised from CFA671.7 billion to CFA752.1 billion

This is the government’s second such exercise in less than six years. The previous review, launched in late 2020, covered claims accumulated between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2019.

In an August 16, 2024 statement, the Finance Ministry initially reported CFA671.7 billion in validated claims. The total covered salary, tax and customs, commercial, academic, social and rental debts, as well as certain compensation payments.

The figure was subsequently revised upward to CFA752.1 billion. In a May 29, 2026 update, the ministry identified that amount as the audited and validated floating debt for the 2000-2019 period.

The CFA80.4 billion difference from the amount announced in August 2024 represents an increase of nearly 12%. It is unrelated to the new audit for 2020-2025. The 2024 statement had noted that work to refine some components of the earlier debt stock, particularly tax and customs obligations and academic debt, had yet to be completed.

CFA288.8 billion remains from the previous stock

The government began clearing the validated debt in January 2024. According to the Finance Ministry’s May 29, 2026 update, CFA463.3 billion had been paid, equivalent to 61.6% of the CFA752.1 billion validated through the audit.

Payments totaled CFA232.9 billion in 2024 and CFA230.4 billion in 2025. In 2024 alone, they included CFA182.9 billion in salary arrears and CFA50 billion in tax and customs debt.

For 2025, the state budget included a special CFA110 billion allocation for obligations other than salary arrears. By the end of May 2026, CFA86.2 billion had actually been paid: CFA54.2 billion for tax and customs debt, CFA20.2 billion for commercial debt and CFA6.5 billion for academic debt. The remaining CFA5.3 billion went toward social and rental obligations.

Subtracting the CFA463.3 billion paid from the validated CFA752.1 billion stock leaves an arithmetic balance of CFA288.8 billion. The ministry said payments would continue according to available cash resources.

Previous review rejected 5,656 claims

The first review identified 38,015 claims. By 2022, 32,359 remained subject to confirmation, while the auditor had rejected 5,656.

Reasons for rejection included claims that had already been paid, duplicates, partial payments, previously processed cases, the same claim submitted under several payment reference numbers, and requests that fell outside the period covered by the audit.

The rejected cases therefore did not necessarily represent 5,656 fictitious claims. The finance minister did, however, report instances of falsification and warned against the use of fraudulent documents to obtain payments from the state.

The new audit will determine the amount of valid claims accumulated between 2020 and 2025. No comprehensive audited and validated figure has yet been published for that period. The CFA288.8 billion balance calculated as of May 2026 relates exclusively to unpaid obligations from the 2000-2019 period and should not be treated as an estimate of the new arrears.

BRM