Can CEMAC’s capital market actually bankroll Cameroon’s real economy? That was the central question on the table when Finance Minister Louis Paul Motazé opened the inaugural Diamond Capital Convention in Douala on 24 September 2026, calling for a deeper, more dynamic and more attractive financial market capable of backing businesses, infrastructure and the major economic transformation projects of Cameroon and CEMAC.

Finance Minister Louis Paul Motazé presided over the opening ceremony of the first Diamond Capital Convention in Douala on 24 September 2026. The gathering brought together public authorities, investors, financial institutions, businesses, regulators and other market players around the challenges of financing the economy.

Presiding over the opening, the MINFI urged players in the financial ecosystem to step up capital mobilization in the service of the real economy. Convened in Douala for this inaugural edition of the Diamond Capital Convention, the leading figures of the financial ecosystem exchanged views on ways to channel more capital toward productive activity.

Louis Paul Motazé stressed the need to build a deeper, more dynamic and more attractive financial market — one able to support companies, infrastructure and the major economic transformation projects of Cameroon and the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC).

Steering capital toward the right targets

In his address, the Finance Minister underscored the importance of strengthening the financial market’s capacity to mobilize the resources needed to finance the real economy. The goal is notably to steer capital more effectively toward businesses, infrastructure and growth-driving sectors.

This mobilization concerns in particular industrialization, local processing of raw materials, infrastructure, energy and digital technology — all sectors capable of contributing to value creation, economic activity and employment.

Défis Actuels, Cameroon’s leading news magazine

Savings mobilization: the other big challenge

For Louis Paul Motazé, developing the capital market also means diversifying financing instruments and building closer links between the needs of project promoters and the resources available from investors. The aim is to create more bridges between capital and the projects capable of durably transforming economies.

Trust also occupies a central place in this dynamic. It rests notably on effective regulation, transparency, the quality of financial information, good governance and investor protection.

Mobilizing savings is another important issue. Developing an accessible and credible financial market should gradually strengthen the participation of economic actors and the wider public in financing productive activity.

Through this first edition of the Diamond Capital Convention, participants are therefore called upon to come up with concrete solutions to strengthen financing of the Cameroonian and community economies, support productive investment and accompany economic transformation.

Défis Actuels, Cameroon’s leading news magazine

For Cameroon and CEMAC, the challenge is therefore to turn the capital market into a genuine development lever — transforming available financial resources into productive investment, infrastructure, competitive businesses and jobs.

By Blaise NNANG
Défis Actuels, 29/09/2026