Camair-co: A recovery plan with uncertainties

60 billion will be borrowed from banks to finance the stimulus plan of the Cameroon Airlines Corporation (Camair-Co) over 7 years. Debt service is likely to be burdensome. The budget of acquisition of the planes remains to be specified ...

 

7 years to equip 12 aircraft. 7 years to serve 23 cities,That is 8 national and 4 intercontinental destinations and 11 regional destinations. The whole funded to 60 billion CFA francs or 30 billion CFA francs in the course of layoff. It was Monday, March 20, that the stimulus plan of the Cameroon Airlines-Corporation was presented yesterday by Boeing consulting. The ceremony was held in the conference room of the Ministry of Transport in Yaoundé.

They were optimistic. Both the director general of Camair-Co and the transport minister: "this is one of the best stimulus plans I have ever seen," Ernest Dikoum rejoiced. "I do not envisage a failure at all, we will return here in a few years to celebrate the progress of this recovery plan," swore Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo'o. 

Market dupes?

At the end of this ceremony, several questions remain unanswered. First the acquisition of a plane. During the ceremony, nothing was said about the terms and conditions of aircraft acquisitions so that the Camair-Co fleet would have 12 aircraft by 2024. Does the state not run  the risk of bleeding blank, especially when we know that a dreamliner plane for example costs nearly 70 billion CFA francs?

Camair-Co is also expected to be a source of heavy debt for the State of Cameroon. At the ceremony last Monday, the Minister of Transport announced that Camair-Co is now the owner of its headquarters building. More rental so. What reduced the debt of the already colossal company. However, with this stimulus package, it is the state that this time risks suffering.

International market

Debt service runs the risk of getting heavier. Indeed, Boeing consulting had suggested that the State released 60 billion CFA francs. According to Transport Minister Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo'o during the ceremony, this amount of money will be borne by a bank consortium headed by EcoBank.

This is therefore an advance on cash which the State will have to bear subsequently with interest in addition that these banks will be entitled to claim. What is around 100 billion CFA francs. Moreover, the government has kept the vagueness around funding arrangements for 12 aircraft by 2024.

Moreover, we are still unaware of the strategy and positioning of Cameroon in relation to market constraints, when we know, for example, that Africa accounts for 1.9% of international transport dominated by major companies such as Brussels Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Ethiopians Airlines, etc. With the above, is not it better that the management of Camair-Co be given at least 85% to the private history of not exposing the company to the heaviness and defects inherent in the Cameroonian administration?