CEMAC Eyes December Breakthrough to Clear Path for New IMF Programs

BEAC Governor Yvon Sana Bangui has opened talks with the International Monetary Fund to revive a regional review that could clear the way for new financial programs with Cameroon, Congo and Gabon. The central bank now sees December 2026 as a possible date for completing the review, after IMF missions scheduled for October.

Sana Bangui met Zeine Zeidane, director of the IMF’s African Department, in Washington on September 8. According to a BEAC statement issued on September 14, the discussions focused on the conditions required to complete CEMAC’s regional assurances review, which has been suspended since December 2025, and to continue IMF-supported programs across the region.

Regional assurances cover commitments made at the CEMAC level to protect foreign exchange reserves, maintain monetary and financial stability and strengthen the banking sector. They complement the fiscal and structural commitments that individual member states negotiate separately with the IMF.

Approval of the regional review does not automatically secure an IMF program for any individual country. It is, however, a prerequisite for IMF financial agreements within the monetary union.

The review expected at the end of 2025 was postponed. According to official BEAC documents reviewed by Business in Cameroon, the delay resulted from a lack of alignment between national fiscal policies and the regional strategy, as well as incomplete agreements on regional assurances to support reforms.

Reforms Must Advance Before December

In Washington, Sana Bangui presented the measures adopted since the review was postponed. BEAC cited efforts to restore more credible and sustainable fiscal trajectories, increase staffing at the Central African Banking Commission (Cobac), prepare new banking legislation and revise CEMAC’s multilateral surveillance framework.

The governor also called for the regional assurances framework to better reflect the characteristics of CEMAC economies. According to BEAC, the proposal “does not seek to call into question the principles of good governance or relax macroeconomic discipline, but to better align regional commitments with programs agreed between CEMAC member states and the IMF.”

IMF missions scheduled for October are expected to assess progress on these reforms. BEAC has identified December 2026 as a possible date for approval of the regional review. That timeline remains conditional. Neither BEAC nor the IMF has announced that approval by the IMF Executive Board is assured.

The outcome matters directly for several CEMAC countries that no longer have active financial arrangements with the Fund. Congo completed its Extended Credit Facility program in March 2025. The IMF approved the final reviews of Cameroon’s Extended Credit Facility and Extended Fund Facility programs in July 2025. Gabon’s previous three-year arrangement, approved in July 2021, expired in 2024.

At a meeting in Paris on March 17, 2026, CEMAC member states had already committed to work “collectively and individually” to implement existing programs and conclude new agreements with the IMF.

The situation differs elsewhere in the region. Chad has had a new 48-month Extended Credit Facility arrangement since July 2025. Equatorial Guinea has an IMF staff-monitored program without financing, while the Central African Republic’s Extended Credit Facility arrangement, concluded in April 2023, expired on June 26, 2026.

Cameroon Has CFA300 Billion Riding on a New IMF Program

For Cameroon, the regional review now overlaps with preparations for the 2027 budget. The government’s 2027-2029 Medium-Term Economic and Budget Programming Document projects CFA300 billion in budget support for 2027 based on the assumption that the country secures a new IMF program.

That amount represents about 9.5% of Cameroon’s projected CFA3.16 trillion in financing needs for 2027.

The document states that financing for the 2027-2029 budgets relies on budget support expected from a new economic and financial program with the IMF. It also identifies the absence of a new agreement as a risk to the medium-term sustainability of public finances.

The CFA300 billion would not necessarily come directly from the IMF alone. An IMF program can also serve as a condition for, or facilitate, budget support from partners such as the World Bank, African Development Bank, European Union and bilateral donors.

Cameroon’s Finance Minister Louis Paul Motazé said the two programs implemented between 2017 and 2025 helped the country mobilize about CFA2.6 trillion in budget support from the IMF and other partners.

“We would no longer have access to that support without a new program with the IMF. That means we would have to find other resources. This is why we believe it is necessary to consider a new agreement,” Motazé said after the October 30, 2025 Cabinet Council.

The Washington meeting therefore does not settle the question of Cameroon’s next IMF program. It addresses the regional prerequisite that must first be resolved. The next test comes with the IMF missions scheduled for October, before a possible approval of CEMAC’s regional assurances review in December.

Brice R. Mbodiam