Finance Week 2024: EcoMatin mobilises media to valorise activities of economic operators.

The event, held under the patronage of the Minister of Finance, was on the theme: Domestic Capital Market: A lever of economic growth for the CEMAC Subregion” 

EcoMatin’s Finance Week highlights major challenges facing the national economy and those of other economies in the CEMAC Subregion. 

Addressing the press after launching activities, the Publisher of EcoMatin, Emile Fidieck, told journalists that it is the responsibility of the press to get more engaged in the economic activities of the State. 

He added that for a media house like his, more inclined to economic issues about Cameroon and the world, the task is even more demanding.

Fidieck explained that as actors who accompany the State and its collaborators to inform opinion on national issues, the press needs to move closer to recognised and outstanding economic actors. 

This, he said, is to ensure collaboration in the interest of Cameroonians and State actors who incarnate both political and financial institutions.

The Publisher added that in an era where economic and media operations are increasingly going digital, the press has to work with actors so that they embrace emerging innovations. With such switches, he said, every sector of society will adapt.

From newsroom to public space

Fidieck cited the theme of the event: “Domestic Capital Market: A lever of economic growth for the CEMAC sub region”, as a clear indication of EcoMatin´s willingness to take the press out of the newsroom to the public space. 

This, he said, is given that economic operators deal with figures and statistics that must be compiled through creating ideal relations with actors in the field. 

Without fruitful interaction through diverse social actions, the EcoMatin boss opined, it would be difficult to build the confidence parties need to work together for meaningful results and economic growth.

Ranking of banks in Cameroon

Another high point at the EcoMatin Finance Week was the publication of the ranking of banks in Cameroon, by the said media organ. He said his team would not have been able to come out with any results, if they did not go to the field to talk to key actors and carry out surveys on the banks’ activities. 

At the end of the assessment, he announced, Access Bank Cameroon won the 2023 Most Innovative Bank in Cameroon Award. 

Going by EcoMatin, CCA Bank emerged as winner of the Special Jury award.

Afriland First Bank won the Most Prestigious Prize, that of leadership in Banking in Cameroon.

Event organisers informed the audience that Afriland First Bank is winning the prize for the second consecutive time. 

They highlighted that banks in the country were assessed under five criteria, and Afriland First Bank came top in four out of the five criteria.

MINFI scribe lauds initiative

The Secretary General in the Ministry of Finance, Gilbert Ondoa, who represented the Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motaze, lauded the initiative of the Publisher of EcoMatin and his team.

The MINFI scribe asserted that no government in the world can talk of economic development without appreciating the role of banks. 

Ondoa said Cameroon is still recording positive growth with its Gross Domestic Product, GDP, expanding thanks to the enormous contribution of local banks. 

The MINFI scribe reminded representatives of the banking sector that if they were able to mobilise sufficient finances locally, the government will not have gone borrowing money from foreign financiers.

He said the servicing of foreign loans remain a burden, especially to the local currency as compared to hard currencies. 

Ondoa challenged operators in the banking sector to exhibit mastery of the mechanics of monetary exchange, so that the local currency can remain resilient. 

This, he said, is needed to ensure the local currency is not subject to constant downward fluctuations as against an international currency like the Unted States Dollar, USD.

He also called on bankers to work and develop the Subregional money market, so as to up investor confidence. 

Through transparent banking, Ondoa said, banks could improve the nation’s business climate and attract more investments.

This year’s EcoMatin Finance Week saw in attendance top government functionaries, investors, economic operators and stakeholders in the banking sector from the CEMAC Subregion. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3304 of Thursday November 28, 2024