Fitch revises down Cameroon's outlook to negative

ISTANBUL

Fitch Ratings revised the outlook of Cameroon to negative from stable, while affirming its long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating at "B" level.

The outlook revision reflects increased liquidity pressures related to the country's higher spending needs, and challenging domestic and external market financing conditions, the rating agency said Friday in a statement.

The revision is also due to structural weaknesses in public finance management and the country's downside risks to the budget balance from political and social pressures, it added.

"It was revealed in July that the authorities were late in making external debt service payments to one commercial creditor on four occasions between January and November 2022, underscoring weak debt management capacity and the extent of liquidity pressures," the statement said.

Fitch said it expects Cameroon to continue running a moderate budget deficit of 1.3% of GDP in 2023 and 1.4% in 2024 in cash terms.

It, however, forecasts real GDP growth increasing to 3.8% in 2023, from 3.6% in 2022, and later rising to 4.1% in 2024 and 4.4% in 2025.