The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has loaned Cameroon around CFA64.3 billion to fund the 2019-2020 cotton season, APA learned on Tuesday from the country’s Ministry of Economy.
By Felix Cyriaque Ebole Bola
This money will allow the main beneficiary, the Cotton Development Company (Sodecoton) to acquire inputs for producers, and procure cotton seeds from the 250,000 planters it supervises.
In 2018, the state of Cameroon, which holds 59 percent of the capital, against 30 percent by the French Geocoton and 11 percent by the National Investment Company (SNI), had already released CFA15 billion for the further implementation of the company’s recovery plan.
At the same time, it received funding from the IDB (CFA65 billion) and CFA15 billion from the Arab Bank for the Development of Africa (BADEA).
At the end of the 2018-2019 crop season, Sodecoton had recorded a “record figure of 309,000 tonnes of cotton” produced, while its turnover from the sale of oil reached CFA17.7 billion, against CFA10.7 billion in 2016 and CFA16.2 billion in 2017, after losses reaching the peak of CFA18.8 billion in 2015..
FCEB/te/fss/as/APA