The engine of this acceleration lies in an unprecedented easing of the cost of borrowing. The average lending rate dropped from 8.80% to 8.18% in one year. This decrease, the result of a relentless fight against usurious practices and better regulation of the Effective Global Rate (TEG), has allowed for the injection of much larger financing tickets. The private sector, acting as the true locomotive, thus captures 87.24% of the total envelope, or 1,594.6 billion FCFA. But the distribution is surgical: large enterprises take the lion's share with 1,306.6 billion FCFA, buoyed by a credit cost that has melted to 6.88%. For these giants, borrowing is no longer a burden but a growth lever of formidable efficiency.

In the shadow of these record figures, the landscape is less radiant for SMEs and households. Although the volume allocated to SMEs slightly increased to reach 288 billion FCFA, their financing conditions have brutally hardened, with the TEG climbing to 11.84%. Individuals, for their part, are experiencing a true standstill, with a 12.81% decline in credits caused by rates soaring to nearly 15%. This financial "double standard" underscores the extreme caution of banks regarding individual risk. A striking feature of this quarter is that the public sector made a spectacular breakthrough, multiplying its recourse to bank credit thirty-three-fold to reach 111.6 billion FCFA, benefiting from facilitated access through preferential rates.

On the banking chessboard, the battle for leadership remains fierce but fragmented. BICEC maintains a slight lead with 17.60% of the market share in terms of credit volume, closely followed by a pack consisting of AFG, SCB Cameroon, BGFIBANK, SGBC, and CBC, all hovering around the 11% to 13% mark. This market, dominated at 99.09% by traditional commercial banks, leaves very few crumbs for non-bank financial institutions.

CK