The history of Cameroon’s public treasury began well before the country’s independence. This history reveals extraordinary transformations that have shaped national public finances over more than a century.
Since gaining independence, the State of Cameroon has had a Treasury Department. Like any government agency, this department has its own history. It has undergone numerous changes in line with the social, economic, and political context of Cameroon’s public treasury history.
Cameroon came under German protectorate (German-Duala Treaty of July 12, 1884). At that time, there was no Cameroonian public treasury. Financial management was entirely organized and controlled by the German colonial administration.
Cameroon came under a League of Nations mandate and was administered by France and England, then under UN trusteeship in 1945. Financial management remained fully colonial, centralized in the hands of French and British administrators. The resources collected locally mainly served the interests of the mandatory powers. No autonomous Cameroonian financial structure yet existed.
Cameroon became independent and established its own financial system. The Cameroonian government took control of the public treasury and began managing public finances independently.
Initially, there were two parallel Treasury services (East Cameroon and West Cameroon) with two accounting systems. With the establishment of the unitary state in 1972, they were harmonized to create a single Treasury service across the entire national territory.
Administrative organization. The responsibilities of the Treasury grew as the young state developed and faced difficulties in mobilizing resources to meet its needs. By the mid-1980s, the regulations governing the Treasury Administration granted it a key role in defining and implementing monetary policy and managing the State’s Treasury. It thus exercised supervisory authority over all financial activities, as conferred by the State.
Establishment of new structures within the Treasury Department Decree No. 2003/165 of June 30, 2003, on the organization of the Ministry of Finance and Budget further consolidates this change through the establishment of new structures within the Treasury Department, notably the Central Treasury Accounting Agency and the Treasury Division, which mark a break with traditional responsibilities such as collecting and centralizing all types of revenue, paying expenses incurred by credit managers, keeping the general accounts of the State and the auxiliary accounts of third parties, etc.
The former Treasury Directorate became a General Directorate of the Treasury. Decree No. 2005/119 of August 15, 2005, on the organization of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, created a General Directorate of the Treasury, with the State intending for it to fully play its role in developing and implementing financial, monetary, accounting, and Treasury management policies. The former Treasury Directorate was thus transformed into a General Directorate, now comprising the Treasury Directorate and the Directorate of Financial and Monetary Cooperation and Insurance.
The DGTCFM underwent another transformation. This evolution continued with Decree No. 2008/365 of November 8, 2008, on the organization of the Ministry of Finance. The General Directorate of the Treasury, Financial and Monetary Cooperation underwent changes both in its missions and in its structure.
Decree No. 2013/066 of February 28, 2013, on the organization of the Ministry of Finance (MINFI) of Cameroon, deeply restructured the State’s financial administration in order to strengthen efficiency, transparency, and modernization of public management.
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the History of Cameroon's Public Treasury
After exploring this fascinating history of Cameroon’s public treasury, delve deeper into the personalities who have left their mark on this institution.