Editing Economy of Cameroon (section)

==Finance and banking==

Cameroon's financial system is the largest in the [[CEMAC]] region. Access to financial services is limited, particularly for SMEs. Aside from a traditional tendency for banks to prefer dealing with large, established companies, determining factors are also found in interest rates for loans to SMEs being capped at 15 percent and being heavily taxed. As of 2006, bank loans to SMEs hardly reached 15 percent of total outstanding loans (Molua, 2002).<ref name=Tambi2015/>

Less than 5 percent of Cameroonians have access to a bank account. While the microfinance sector is consequently becoming increasingly important, its development is hampered by a loose regulatory and supervisory framework for [[microfinance]] institutions (MFIs). The banking sector is highly concentrated and dominated by foreign commercial banks. 6 out of the 11 largest commercial banks are foreign-owned, and the three largest banks hold more than 50 percent of total financial system assets. While foreign banks generally display good solvency ratios, small domestic banks are in a much weaker position. Their capitalization is well below the average of banks in the CEMAC region and their profits are close to 2 percent, compared to 20 percent for foreign banks in the country. This is partially explained by the high levels of non-performing loans, which reached 12 percent in 2007, leading to most banks holding large amounts of excess reserves as a percentage of deposits and large levels of unutilized liquidity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mfw4a.org/cameroon/cameroon-financial-sector-profile.html|title=Cameroon Financial Sector Profile: MFW4A - Making Finance Work for Africa|website=www.mfw4a.org|access-date=1 December 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513110637/http://www.mfw4a.org/cameroon/cameroon-financial-sector-profile.html|archive-date=13 May 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2018, Cameroon's financial system is being requested by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to increase its tax base to cover the losses from the North-West and South-West Cameroon's regions instabilities, the loss of oil revenue, the failure to deliver on port facilities, and the decline in oil production from mature oil fields.<ref>IMF.org</ref>