France is also the country that provided the largest funding to Cameroon between 1975 and 1998, granting the country 253 loans worth $5,035 million, much more than Germany, the second bilateral lender (86 loans for a total of $2,166 million), according to the ECA. These loans were mostly 'tied', meaning that they involved a counterpart: in exchange for the loans, Cameroon had to procure goods and services from France. As a result, France became Cameroon's largest creditor but also its main supplier. Some other data reported by the ECA: French loans have never been denominated in CFA francs, although the latter is 'the natural extension of the French currency in Cameroon', but rather in French francs (at the time) or in dollars. For this reason, the Cameroonian debt contracted with Paris – meaning the value of its outstanding debt – increased as a result of the 1994 devaluation.

Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa's Last Colonial Curr…, loc. 253