Coming to Terms with Reality. Evaluation of the Belgian Debt Relief ...

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Annexes
and publicly guaranteed debt to GDP rose from 25% of GDP in 1985 to more than 50% in
1993 and to over 110% in 1995, before staying around 100% until 2000.
Figure 3 Public and Publicly Guaranteed Debt (Million US $, Nominal value), 1985-2000.
Millions of US Dollars
1.0000
9.000
8.000
7.000
6.000
5.000
4.000
3.000
2.000
1.000
0
Source: GDF 2008
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
PPG, total (DOD, millions US$)
The devaluation of 1994 implied a clear change in the lending policy of creditors, since
Cameroon then became eligible for concessional assistance from the International
Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank Group. The average grant element of
loans increased from around 30% to over 60% and the average interest fell from more than
5% to less than 2% (see GDF 2008).
The composition of Cameroon’s debt contracted between 1986 and 2000 is shown in figure
4. Throughout this period bilateral debt has been preponderant. By the year 2000 its share
had risen to approximately 80%. A large fraction of this debt is due to Paris Club creditors.
The share of multilateral borrowing has remained more or less stable since the early 1990s
at around 20%, the main creditor being the World Bank Group. Private creditors have cut
funding since the economic crisis of the late 1980s. By the year 2000 private debt
constituted a negligible share of the total 98 .
The composition of the country’s external debt structure at the end of 1999 (the year before
the HIPC Decision Point) is represented in figure 5. More than two third of the debt was due
to Paris Club members, 25% to multilateral institutions and only 5% to private creditors.
98 Most of the 1990s debt was denominated in foreign currency, mainly French Franc, Deutsche Mark, US
Dollars and Austrian Schillings (in decreasing order of importance). At the eve of the HIPC Decision Point
the main bilateral creditors were France and Germany, with respectively 25% and 18% of total debt,
followed by Austria (6.6%), Canada (4%), the U.K. (2.7%) and Belgium (2.6%).
Coming to Terms with Reality
Figure 4 Composition of Public and Publicly Guaranteed (PPG) external debt
(cumulative amounts):
Share of Total
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Source: GDF 2008 data
PPG, private creditors (% total) PPG, multilateral (% total) PPG, bilateral (% total)
Figure 5 External Debt Structure in Cameroon (end 1999):
Source: Cameroonian authorities; and IDA and IMF staff estimates.
1% | Other official bilateral
5% | Commercial
6% | African Development Bank Group
14% | World Bank Group
3% | IMF
2% | Other multilateral creditors
69% | Paris Club
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