On the occasion of the general review of the cooperation portfolio between Cameroon and development partners in the Islamic world, the Minister of Economy and Planning and Land Development (Minepat), Louis Paul Motaze, indicated yesterday in Yaoundé that, out of a global intervention amount of FCfa 520 billion, the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) gathered on its own, a portfolio of approximately 428 billion for about twenty operations. Thus, more than 85% of the entire portfolio.

A financing authority in the Islamic Cooperation Organisation (ICO), of which Cameroon has been a member since 1975, IDB honoured the country by funding the very first project worldwide at its inception, being the Song Loulou dam (388 megawatts) in 1977. This symbolic gesture was followed by a steady increase in the operations undertaken by this institution: construction project of the Olama Kribi road (Olama-Bingambo stretch), Limbé shipyard, Foumban-Tibati road (Foumba-Manki-Magba-Mapé Bridge), etc.

To have a better foothold in Cameroon, this Islamic bank recently appointment a local representative in Abakar Abdoulrassoul. Of Cameroonian origin, he is an engineer in agriculture who simultaneously studied economics, banking and finance. Apart from IDB, the main partners in this type of cooperation include the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), the Saudi Development Fund (FSD), the Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development (FKDEA) and the OPEP Fund for International Development (OFID).