Following the outbreak of the coronavirus in Cameroon, Commercial banks in the country have decided to stop receiving credit application files from individuals: especially those working in the private sector, especially in SMEs and even certain parastatals.
Other banks still granting loans to Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) have made the eligibility conditions extremely difficult: “Before the pandemic, we granted loans after three months of service with your employer. With this crisis, we have tightened up the clauses going to several years. You must have ten years of service with both your employer and the bank to qualify for a loan. Apart from this supplement, the study of the files takes much longer today, ” an official in one of the banks in Douala told cemac-eco.finance.
We also learnt the processing of individual loan files in progress in some banks has been canceled, because “the risk of non-repayment is even more hypothetical for them. Regarding the customers of parastatals, decision from hierarchy is awaited.
This refusal of loans to SMEs is the fallout of a decision recommended to banks by their insurance companies, “Because it must be said that in times of serious crisis, credits are not covered.” Some establishments have gone further in tightening conditions: “even overdrafts have also been suspended for customers working in SMEs,” lour source told us.
