In its recent 2016 report on the “geographic distribution of financial resources allocated to developing countries”, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ranks the European Union in the lead of biggest providers of Public Development Aid (PDA) to the Republic of Cameroon.

According to figures taken from the report, the EU and its member-States provide 57% of the Public Development Aid to Cameroon, with a global amount peaking at USD 487 million, thus approximately FCfa 285.5 billion.

The main bilateral sponsor of Cameroon, in terms of PDA, is France with USD 167 million, thus about FCfa 98 billion. France is followed by the United Kingdom, who will soon start its exit process from the European Union after the Brexit, with USD 88.2 million (FCfa 51.6 billion).

These two countries, main providers of PDA to Cameroon, are closely followed by the Federal Republic of Germany (USD 87.4 million), the United States of America (USD 40.7 million), and Japan (USS 25.1 million), etc.

Acording to an internal source at the European Union delegation in Cameroon, China is not featured in this ranking, because the financial support provided by this country to the Cameroonian government is not assimilated as PDA, but rather investment.

An expert contacted by Invest in Cameroon, rather talks about “contracts”, to describe the many funding given to Cameroon by China during the past years, and which now make this Asian country the main financial partner of Cameroon through Exim Bank of China.

According to OECD, the “statistical data cover the support in public development aid and other public and private funding given to each recipient country by each member of the Development Aid Committee of the OECD, by multilateral organisations as well as other providers”.