At 2026 Finance Week: Stakeholders drum private sector investment to up economic dev’t.

Focus was on positioning Cameroon as a leader in the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa, CEMAC, whilst strengthening the region's broader financial ecosystem. It was held on the theme: “Private Investment: Building the New Economic Power of CEMAC”.

Presidency backs private sector-led growth

The Presidency of the Republic was represented at the event by Awusa née Brigitte Krubi, from the Economic and Finance Division of the Presidency.

She argued that the CEMAC Subregion is at a pivotal inflection point, shaped by the urgency of economic diversification, mounting demographic pressures, and the imperative to mobilise private capital.

Krubi outlined a vision in which the State is repositioning itself. The State, she said, is shifting from one that administers, to one that enables, de-risks, and partners with the private sector. 

Krubi pointed to landmark reforms, including the National Development Strategy, NDS30, the PIISAH programme for domestic agricultural value chains, the restructuring of the National Investment Corporation, SNI, as a strategic investment vehicle, and the 2025 reform of the Investment Charter.

“The decisive challenge now is execution at scale, with discipline, coordination, and measurable impact. Platforms such as Finance Week must evolve beyond spaces of dialogue into spaces of convergence, capable of aligning public policy, private capital, and regional ambition,” Krubi told stakeholders. 

She stressed that the Presidency's presence at the forum was intentional, not ceremonial. 

“It reflects a clear institutional will to place private investment at the heart of our development model. We are listening. We are reforming. And we are mobilising all forces to deliver sustained, inclusive, and transformative growth,” she underscored.

Enter EcoMatin Publisher

The Publisher EcoMatin, Emile Fidieck, said the Finance Week is more than an annual gathering. He framed it as a strategic platform built, since 2023, to pose the right questions at the right moment. 

While paying tribute to the event's key sponsors and institutional backers, Fidieck was direct about the stakes facing the region.

“The question is no longer whether our economies must transform. The question is: who will finance this transformation, and at what pace? The next growth cycle in CEMAC will be driven by private investment, or it will not happen at all. This is the challenge we have chosen to confront through this year’s theme,” Fidieck said.

He challenged actors to move beyond diagnosis to action, calling for frank, demanding, and results-oriented exchanges.

“Finance Week 2026 has been designed as a space not only for dialogue, but for solutions, where public policy, financial institutions and entrepreneurs can converge to shape concrete outcomes,” Fidieck noted, adding that: “We have the frameworks. Our constraints are known. Beyond the analysis, it is decisions, commitments, and concrete partnerships that will make the difference”.

On the role of the press in economic development, Fidieck quoted extensively from a piece by Afriland First Bank Director General, DG, Célestin Guela Simo, who argued that an economy operating without reliable financial information was an economy advancing in fog.

“A competent, independent, and well-resourced economic press becomes a genuine prudential infrastructure. It replaces rumour with data, emotion with understanding, and distrust with transparency,” Fidieck quoted Guela Simo as having written.

Key stakeholders weigh in

Several high-profile speakers used the platform to address key economic concerns and policy directions across the region. 

The Governor of the Bank of Central African States, BEAC, Yvon Sana Bangui moved to quash persistent speculation over the FCFA, declaring firmly that devaluation had not been on the agenda in 2024 or 2025 and would not feature in 2026 or 2027.

The European Union, EU Ambassador to Cameroon, Jean-Marc Châtaigner, expressed regret that a full economic partnership agreement covered only Cameroon rather than the entire CEMAC zone. He described the situation as a missed opportunity for deeper regional integration.

On his part, the Director General of the Deposits and Consignment Fund, CDEC, Richard Evina Obam, raised concerns over the treatment of dormant assets in the zone.

Evina Obam noted that banking regulators had resisted transferring such holdings to the deposit institution on grounds of financial stability.

The Director General, DG, of the National Social Insurance Fund, CNPS, Mekulu Mvondo called on both the state and the private sector to shoulder greater responsibility.

He argued that government-absorbed savings needed to be reinvested through private actors, whilst businesses, in turn, need to stop waiting for state support before developing.

The Deputy Director General of Afriland First Bank, Hervé Ayissi was direct that, “there will be no emergence in the CEMAC zone without strong financial institutions,” he said.

 Awards, recognitions

The event also celebrated key players shaping the financial and industrial landscape, with awards recognising excellence and impact across sectors. 

Among the winners were Afriland First Bank, which received the banking leadership prize in Cameroon, Keda Cameroon Ceramics for industrial leadership, and Coris Holding, recognised as a champion of African financial integration. 

The Central African Stock Exchange was also honoured for its structural reforms aimed at strengthening regional capital markets.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3779 of Monday May 04, 2026