France will provide Cameroon with 213 billion CFA francs worth of grants over the next five years to pay for agricultural and infrastructure projects, state radio announced on Friday.

The funds come under the so-called C2D debt relief and development agreement France struck with the central African nation after it reached completion point for the World Bank and IMF-backed HIPC debt relief programmes in 2006.

State radio said 60 percent of the money would be spent on agriculture and rural development projects and 34 percent would be spent on urban and infrastructure development, including building a second railway bridge over the Wouri River in Douala.

The rest will be spent on training professionals and financing studies on other potential projects, the radio said.

At $22 billion a year, Cameroon's economy is central Africa's largest but the commodity-exporting nation, which has long produced oil, has vast mining potential and is the world's No. 5 cocoa grower, was hit hard by the global slowdown.

Some activity has rebounded and the government has embarked on ambitious programmes to expand electricity generation capacity and revamp infrastructure, but analysts warn of tensions ahead of polls due later this year.

President Paul Biya has been in power for nearly three decades and maintained a tight control on the state apparatus but he risks unrest from frustrated unemployed youth.

IMF International Monetary Fund Cameroon Cameroon