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Commitment by local banks to financing the economy has increased. The information is contained in the communiqué of the extraordinary session of the Council of Credit, NCC, on September 14, 2015, chaired by its President, Alamine Ousmane Mey, who doubles as Finance Minister. It revealed that efforts to finance the economy by local banks paid off between May 31, 2014 and May 31, 2015. According to the release, bank loans increased with total balance sheet showing 9.5 per cent in transactions, with an increase in savings of 8.1 per cent. Loans issued out rose by 12.9 per cent.

This shows the ease with which government can get money from local banks to finance development projects instead of depending on foreign donors for sometimes lengthy and development-unfriendly loans. The report comes on the heels of that of the National Financial and Monetary Committee which indicated that internal loans increased by 15.1 per cent between March 2014 and 2015. In effect, the amount of internal debts rose from FCFA 2,017.1 billion in March 2014 to FCFA 2,322.1 billion during the same period. A source at the national head office of the Bank of Central African States who preffered not to be named, explained that increase in loans given out to clients could be attributed to the increase in savings noticed by local banks. “Increased savings is tantamount to liquidity in banks which has pushed the rate of loan issuance to 12.9 per cent,” said the source. He explained that government finances the economy through the issuance of bonds and the development of Small and Medium-size Entreprises.

Earlier this year, members of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Central African States, agreed on the need to slash interest rates on local banks to 2.45 per cent, down from 2.95 per cent, after assessing the balance sheet of the global and sub-regional macroeconomic progress and prospects. Cognisant of the fact that economies of the six States of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States, CEMAC, do not speak well in terms of growth, the Central Bank opted for less expensive loans in order to inspire local investors, given that the higher the interest rates, the fewer the loans. Our source stressed that “the performance of the local banks augurs well for the local economy given the international economic environment characterized by crises, especially those in the Eurozone.” He explained that it tells of Cameroon’s ability to face global economic hazards and pursue her emergence drive without much difficulty.”

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Ngwa Bertrand

27.Oct.2015

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Technical experts were trying to discover the cause of an engine problem on an Ethiopian Airlines jet stranded in Dublin after being forced to turn back over the Atlantic on Friday. The crew of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner returned to the Irish capital after the plane's left engine signaled a fault following a scheduled stopover en route from Addis Ababa to Washington.

In a statement, Ethiopian Airlines praised the crew and apologized to passengers, who were later picked up in a second jet sent to Dublin to allow them to complete their journey. Engine maker General Electric and the airline both said they had deployed experts to investigate what caused the incident on Boeing's state-of-the-art lightweight jet.

Irish media reports said that in a separate incident a Boeing 777 operated by British Airways made an unscheduled landing in Dublin on the same day due to a medical emergency.

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Ngwa Bertrand

24.Oct.2015

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Shey Musa Nfor, President of the Cameroon Cooperative Credit Union, CamCCUL has praised the Cameroon government through the Ministries of Finance, Agriculture, Livestock and the Security services for constantly standing by CamCCUL since 1963. Musa Nfor was speaking during festivities for this year’s celebration of the International Credit Union Day in Bamenda. President Shey Musa Nfor revealed to the approximately 10.000 members who had converged at the Bamenda Congress hall that credit union in Cameroon started with a first saving of 50 frs. He observed that 16 members saved 2100 frs in 1963.

Today noted the CamCCUL boss, the Credit Union in Cameroon can boast of more than 228 credit unions branches including a 167 billion francs CFA as savings from close to 2million members. “CamCCUL is number one in sub-Saharan Africa and amongst a worldwide net work of over 200 million members spread in more than 100 countries operating under 56.000 Credit Unions.” Shey Musa Nfor added. He called on Cameroonians to join the Credit Union train and finally appealed to the Cameroon government to speed up the special tax regime for Credit Unions and help tackle the problem of delinquent borrowers.

For his part, the special representative of the North West region governor, Mokaongy Charles, said the state will always remain thankful to CamCCUL in its efforts aimed at poverty alleviation, economic prosperity, the micro-credit grant, capacity building and the education of the Cameroonian child. To this he said the Cameroon Government sees the Credit union movement as a commendable partner in development adding that the magnificent CamCCUL building at Commercial Avenue, Bamenda (seen here) was a true testimony of the democratic spirit that reigns within the organization. The Governor’s representative concluded that government shall do all it can to protect all her institutions.

This year’s celebration that held under the theme “People Helping People” saw the participation of religious as well as traditional authorities. The Government Delegate to the Bamenda City Council Mr. Nji Ndomo Vincent thanked the management of CamCCUL for letting those who save money have confidence in them qualifying it to the credit unions motor of *Borrow wisely and pay promptly*.

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Ngwa Bertrand

23.Oct.2015

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One of the irking problems of constant electricity supply in Cameroon, of late, has been transporting the energy from where it is produced to industries and households for consumption. Stakeholders blame it on obsolete electricity poles, overloaded transformers and saturated network which require gigantic investments to stand growing challenges. According to the General Manager of ENEO, Joel Nana Kontchou, existing transformers are already saturated and sometimes stretched beyond limit. “Generally, manufacturers of the transformers advice that they be used at 80 per cent but ours here are sometimes used at 90-95 per cent and we do not usually have sufficient reserves,” he said. The excessive use of the transformers precipitates their degradation with reports of burnt transformers becoming recurrent. “This year alone, we have witnessed a 25 per cent reduction in the number of transformers owing to the destruction. This represents a loss of about 150 transformers,” the ENEO GM added.

This frequent blowing of transformers seriously stalls energy supply to households and industries. Electricity poles are also another source of worry, mostly the wooden type. They do not only fall and interrupt electricity supply but equally take away human life. ENEO, going by the General Manager, has already replaced about 50,000 of such dangerous poles. This notwithstanding, the country’s electricity sector still has so many wooden low tension poles susceptible to crumbling. Recent information from ENEO indicated that over 500,000 wooden poles have to be replaced. The outfit, sources say, is carrying out the replacement at a speed of 40,000 poles or more a year. This means that at this pace, the pressing problem can at best get a definite solution in not less than twelve and a half years. Joel Nana Kontchou said ENEO has an investment programme of FCFA 447 billion in ten years with 50 per cent of it to be directed to revamping the energy transmission lines like poles, transformers and extending the network.

Even if the poles were to be replaced at short notice, skeptics still doubt the quality used today to replace what has worn out. Old treated poles had a lifespan of 20 years but what is being used today appears not to be going through the same hitherto treatment procedure and may not stand the test of time. This raises more fears than hopes given that in the over 12 years that the replacement will span, other poles would have outlived their usefulness and other problems might have resurfaced. “What we need to do is to put in place an autonomous network which must be modernised to be able to evacuate electricity that will be produced from the new plants whose constructions are on course,” Mr Kontchou noted.

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Ngwa Bertrand

22.Oct.2015

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Cameroon banking sector witnessed a drop in 2015 according to « Jeune Afrique » magazine. The country witnessed a drop from 7 banks among the first 200 in the African continent in 2014 to 6 in 2015. The performances of the best 6 also witnessed considerable failures. The classification is done on the basis of business turnover. The first Cameroonian bank, Afriland First Group occupied the 78th position in the continent and second within the sub-regional region. The second, Afriland First Bank, maintained the 151st position as against 137th in 2014. Société Général Cameroun came third, dropping from 144 in 2014 to 154 in 2015. The Banque International pour l’Epargne et le Crédit (BICEC) also recorded a sharp fall in performance-from 158 in 2014 to 184 in 2015. 

The Société Commerciale de Banque (SCB) Cameroun and Ecobank Cameroun are the last Cameroonian banks to feature on the rating. They were classified 197 in 2015 as against 183 in 2014 and 199 in 2014 against 189 in 2015 respectively. Ten Cameroonian banks were rated among the top 50 of the region. Afriland First Group, Afriland First Bank and Société Général Cameroun, are the first three Cameroonian banks while United Bank for Africa, Standard Chartered Bank Africa and BGFI Bank Cameroun were least on the Cameroon rating, though their performances are far better than other banks in the sub-region.

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Ngwa Bertrand

21.Oct.2015

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Nigerian maritime services company Homeland Integrated Offshore Services Ltd (HIOSL) will later this year receive the Guardian 2, a second FCS 3307 Patrol vessel from Damen Shipyards, having ordered the vessel in March this year. HIOSL Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Louis Ekere told defenceWeb that the Guardian 2 will arrive in Port Harcourt from the Netherlands in November when it will be used primarily for offshore security patrols as well as passenger and cargo transfer to offshore oil platforms.

HIOSL has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Nigerian Navy which will enable her to work closely with the Navy and to have a number of armed Government Security Forces (GSF) onboard. As such the vessel will be used for patrol, intervention, interception and protection of the maritime corridors and strategic oil company installations. HIOSL has five offshore vessels in its fleet in addition to other vessels such as houseboats, tugboats, barges etc. It plans to expand its fleet and acquire two more security patrol vessels (Guardian 3 and Guardian 4) in the first quarter of 2016. It will in the second quarter of 2016 acquire Platform Support Vessels subject to upcoming contractual obligations with international oil companies.

In February last year HIOSL received its first Damen FCS 3307 Patrol, named Guardian 1, seven months after it was ordered. This class of vessel features the pioneering Sea Axe bow that gives the vessel unparalleled seakeeping behaviour, even in challenging conditions. Ekere said the Damen design was chosen due to reliability and the fact that design met its specific project requirements. “The Groundbreaking Sea Axe (Bow) design of the Damen vessel makes it very stable, fast and fuel efficient even very rough seas.” The FCS 3307 has a length of 33.57 metres, deck area of 70 square metres and a top speed of 28 knots.

The aluminium vessel has a crew of eight and is powered by three Caterpillar engines with a total of 2-3 500 kW. Ekere said Guardian 1 has performed exceptionally well. “In the international oil company field that we operate in Nigeria, we have had a zero hour down time in the last two years and Guardian 1 is rated the best vessel among the vessels due to her consistent speed, fast intervention and interception and fuel efficiency.” Ekere said that one of the main risks facing vessels operating in Nigerian waters are pockets of pirates who seek to ransom vessel owners. “The security patrol vessels have performed very well in this regards by the preventive patrol which has led to almost a zero attack by pirates in the last three years.” Established in 2006, HIOSL serves the Nigerian oil and gas industry with a wide range of maritime, security and logistics services. The Lagos headquartered company has plans to become the leading marine logistics provider in the Nigerian offshore industry. HIOSL has a core staff of around 100 although total staff can reach up to 400.

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Ngwa Bertrand

21.Oct.2015

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