An Exploration of the Role of Multinational Banks on Investment in Infrastructures in Cameroon

For many decades, Cameroon infrastructures indicators trail those of regional Central African countries in spite of a slight improvement in the overall quality of infrastructures in 2013. Furthermore, infrastructures indicators are low by sub-Saharan African standards especially for roads, air transportation, and electricity. Closing the infrastructure gap is essential for Cameroon in achieving its development objectives of attaining an emerging economy by 2035. The above challenges pushed the Cameroonian government to adopt a policy paper on infrastructure development as a source of endogenous growth, part of the Growth and Employment Strategy Paper (GESP) for 2035. The government seeks to invest in infrastructure through the domains of energy, buildings and public works, transport, information technology and communication, postal services and ameliorating access to portable water. To meet these objectives, there are projects that span the national territory such as the Mem'vele hydroelectricity power station project, the Limbe deep seaport project, the tarring of new roads as well as the optic fibre project.However, Cameroon is experiencing recurrent budget deficits leaving the country with a fragile fiscal situation. The country has to seek external sources of incomes in order to finance all these initiatives. In December 2014, the Cameroonian government approached financial backing from private institutions.The current empirical research paper is an attempt to explore the roles commercial banks could play in assisting Cameroon in its quest in meeting development challenges that the country is facing.The first part of the paper highlights current infrastructures deficit of the country. The second part provides guidelines for an effective partnership between Cameroon and these commercial financial institutions