Economy of Cameroon

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Economy of Cameroon

Douala, the economic capital of Cameroon
Currency	CFA franc (XAF)
Fiscal year	Calendar year
Trade organisations	AU, AfCFTA (signed), ECCAS, WTO
Country group	Developing/Emerging[1] Lower-middle income economy[2]
Statistics
Population	25,216,237 (2018)[3]
GDP	$56.01 billion (nominal; 2025)[4] $172.97 billion (PPP; 2025)[4]
GDP rank	92th (nominal; 2025) 86th (PPP; 2025)
GDP growth	3.2% (2023)[4] 3.6% (2024)[4] 3.6% (2025)[4] 4.0% (2026f)[4]
GDP per capita	$1,870 (nominal; 2025)[4] $5,760 (PPP; 2025)[4]
GDP per capita rank	152th (nominal; 2025) 147th (PPP; 2025)
GDP by sector	agriculture: 16.7% industry: 26.5% services: 56.8% (2017 est.)[5]
Inflation (CPI)	2.2% (2020 est.)[6]
Population below poverty line	37.5% (2014, World Bank)[7] 44.7% on less than $3.20/day (2014)[8]
Gini coefficient	46.6 high (2014, World Bank)[9]
Human Development Index	0.563 medium (2018)[10] (150th) 0.371 low IHDI (2018)[11]
Labour force	11,354,044 (2019)[12] 69.6% employment rate (2014)[13]
Labour force by occupation	agriculture: 70% industry: 13% commerce: 17% (2001 est.)[5]
Unemployment	4.3% (2014 est.)[5]
Main industries	petroleum production and refining, aluminium production, food processing, light consumer goods, textiles, lumber, ship repair
External
Exports	$4.732 billion (2017 est.)[5]
Export goods	crude oil and petroleum products, lumber, cocoa beans, aluminium, coffee, cotton
Main export partners	Netherlands 15.6% France 12.6% China 11.7% Belgium 6.8% Italy 6.3% Algeria 4.8% Malaysia 4.4% (2017)[5]
Imports	$4.812 billion (2017 est.)[5]
Import goods	machinery, electrical equipment, transport equipment, fuel, food
Main import partners	China 19% France 10.3% Thailand 7.9% Nigeria 4.1% (2017)[5]
Current account	−$932 million (2017 est.)[5]
Gross external debt	$9.375 billion (31 December 2017 est.)[5]
Public finances
Government debt	36.9% of GDP (2017 est.)[5]
Foreign reserves	$3.235 billion (31 December 2017 est.)[5]
Budget balance	−3.4% (of GDP) (2017 est.)[5]
Revenues	5.363 billion (2017 est.)[5]
Expenses	6.556 billion (2017 est.)[5]
Economic aid	The Paris Club agreed to reduce Cameroon's debt of $1.3 billion by $900 million, debt relief now totals $1.26 billion (2001[update])
Credit rating	Standard & Poor's:[14] B (Domestic) B (Foreign) BBB- (T&C Assessment)
All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.

The economy of Cameroon was one of the most prosperous in Africa for a quarter of a century after independence. The drop in commodity prices for its principal exports – petroleum, cocoa, coffee, and cotton – in the mid-1980s, combined with an overvalued currency and economic mismanagement, led to a decade-long recession. Real per capita GDP fell by more than 60% from 1986 to 1994. The current account and fiscal deficits widened, and foreign debt grew. Yet because of its oil reserves and favorable agricultural conditions, Cameroon still has one of the best-endowed primary commodity economies in sub-Saharan Africa.^[15]

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (August 2024)

In 2018, Cameroon produced:

• 5 million tons of cassava (13th largest producer in the world);
• 3.9 million tonnes of plantain (3rd largest producer in the world, only behind Congo and Ghana);
• 2.6 million tons of palm oil (7th largest producer in the world);
• 2.3 million tons of maize;
• 1.9 million tons of taro (3rd largest producer in the world, second only to Nigeria and China);
• 1.4 million tons of sorghum;
• 1.2 million tons of banana;
• 1.2 million tons of sugarcane;
• 1 million tons of tomato (19th largest producer in the world);
• 674,000 tonnes of yam (7th largest producer in the world);
• 594,000 tons of peanut;
• 410,000 tons of sweet potato;
• 402,000 tons of beans;
• 332,000 tons of rice;
• 310,000 tons of pineapple;
• 307,000 tons of cocoa (5th largest producer in the world, after Ivory Coast, Ghana, Indonesia and Nigeria);
• 302,000 tons of potato;
• 301,000 tons of onion;
• 249,000 tons of cotton.

In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products, such as coffee (33,000 tons) and natural rubber (55,000 tons).^[16]

Cameroon's financial system is the largest in the CEMAC region. Access to financial services is limited, particularly for SMEs. Aside from a traditional tendency for banks to prefer dealing with large, established companies, determining factors are also found in interest rates for loans to SMEs being capped at 15 percent and being heavily taxed. As of 2006, bank loans to SMEs hardly reached 15 percent of total outstanding loans (Molua, 2002).^[15]

Less than 5 percent of Cameroonians have access to a bank account. While the microfinance sector is consequently becoming increasingly important, its development is hampered by a loose regulatory and supervisory framework for microfinance institutions (MFIs). The banking sector is highly concentrated and dominated by foreign commercial banks. 6 out of the 11 largest commercial banks are foreign-owned, and the three largest banks hold more than 50 percent of total financial system assets. While foreign banks generally display good solvency ratios, small domestic banks are in a much weaker position. Their capitalization is well below the average of banks in the CEMAC region and their profits are close to 2 percent, compared to 20 percent for foreign banks in the country. This is partially explained by the high levels of non-performing loans, which reached 12 percent in 2007, leading to most banks holding large amounts of excess reserves as a percentage of deposits and large levels of unutilized liquidity.^[17]

In 2018, Cameroon's financial system is being requested by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to increase its tax base to cover the losses from the North-West and South-West Cameroon's regions instabilities, the loss of oil revenue, the failure to deliver on port facilities, and the decline in oil production from mature oil fields.^[18]

Cameroon became an oil-producing country in 1977. Claiming to want to make reserves for difficult times, the authorities manage "off-budget" oil revenues in total opacity (the funds are placed in Paris, Switzerland and New York accounts). Several billion dollars are thus diverted to the benefit of oil companies and regime officials. The influence of France and its 9,000 nationals in Cameroon remains considerable. African Affairs magazine noted in the early 1980s that they "continue to dominate almost all key sectors of the economy, much as they did before independence. French nationals control 55% of the modern sector of the Cameroonian economy and their control over the banking system is total.^[19]

Recent signs, however, are encouraging. As of March 1998, Cameroon's fifth IMF program – a 3-year enhanced structural adjustment program approved in August 1997 – is on track. Cameroon has rescheduled its Paris Club debt at favorable terms. GDP has grown by about 5% a year beginning in 1995. There is cautious optimism that Cameroon is emerging from its long period of economic hardship.

The Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF) signed recently by the IMF and Government of Cameroon calls for greater macroeconomic planning and financial accountability; privatization of most of Cameroon's nearly 100 remaining non-financial parastatal enterprises; elimination of state marketing board monopolies on the export of cocoa, certain coffees, and cotton; privatization and price competition in the banking sector; implementation of the 1992 labor code; a vastly improved judicial system; and political liberalization to boost investment.

France is Cameroon's main trading partner and source of private investment and foreign aid. Cameroon has an investment guaranty agreement and a bilateral accord with the United States. USA investment in Cameroon is about $1 million, most of it in the oil sector. Inflation has been brought back under control. Cameroon aims at becoming emerging by 2035.

The government embarked upon a series of economic reform programs supported by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) beginning in the late 1980s. Many of these measures have been painful; the government slashed civil service salaries by 65% in 1993. The CFA franc – the common currency of Cameroon and 13 other African states – was devalued by 50% in January 1994. The government failed to meet the conditions of the first four IMF programs.

This is a chart of trend of gross domestic product of Cameroon at market prices estimated by the International Monetary Fund with figures in millions of Central African CFA Francs.

The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1980–2022. Inflation below 5% is in green.^[20]

Year	GDP (in Bil. US$PPP)	GDP per capita (in US$ PPP)	GDP (in Bil. US$nominal)	GDP growth (real)	Inflation rate (in Percent)	Government debt (in % of GDP)
1980	11.1	1,263	8.85	9.9%	7.7%	n/a
1981	14.3	1,572	10.03	17.1%	7.5%	n/a
1982	16.3	1,747	9.62	7.6%	15.3%	n/a
1983	18.1	1,887	9.69	6.8%	20.5%	n/a
1984	20.1	2,047	10.24	7.5%	12.1%	n/a
1985	22.4	2,223	10.70	8.1%	4.2%	n/a
1986	24.4	2,357	13.95	6.8%	4.3%	n/a
1987	24.5	2,298	16.15	-2.2%	2.8%	n/a
1988	23.4	2,129	16.40	-7.9%	1.7%	n/a
1989	23.9	2,110	14.63	-1.8%	1.6%	n/a
1990	23.2	1,992	14.64	-6.2%	1.5%	n/a
1991	23.1	1,922	16.33	-3.8%	-0.6%	n/a
1992	22.9	1,850	14.96	-3.1%	1.9%	n/a
1993	22.7	1,780	15.61	-3.2%	-3.7%	n/a
1994	22.6	1,722	10.62	-2.5%	12.7%	n/a
1995	23.9	1,766	10.08	3.3%	25.8%	n/a
1996	25.5	1,836	11.23	4.9%	3.9%	n/a
1997	27.3	1,913	11.35	5.3%	4.8%	n/a
1998	29.0	1,974	11.34	4.9%	3.2%	68%
1999	30.6	2,026	11.55	4.1%	1.8%	68%
2000	32.3	2,084	10.25	3.4%	1.2%	76%
2001	34.2	2,145	10.95	3.4%	4.5%	62%
2002	36.4	2,224	12.37	4.8%	2.8%	57%
2003	38.9	2,318	15.94	5.0%	0.6%	52%
2004	42.6	2,469	18.80	6.6%	0.3%	52%
2005	44.5	2,509	19.53	1.2%	2.0%	44%
2006	47.5	2,605	20.91	3.5%	4.9%	18%
2007	50.8	2,710	23.93	4.1%	1.1%	14%
2008	53.2	2,764	27.71	2.9%	5.3%	11%
2009	55.0	2,777	27.90	2.6%	3.0%	11%
2010	57.2	2,814	27.53	2.9%	1.3%	14%
2011	60.5	2,892	30.63	3.5%	3.0%	15%
2012	63.6	2,959	30.17	4.5%	2.4%	15%
2013	69.1	3,130	33.73	5.0%	2.1%	17%
2014	75.1	3,313	36.40	5.8%	1.9%	21%
2015	79.1	3,396	32.21	5.6%	2.7%	32%
2016	84.4	3,527	33.81	4.5%	0.9%	32%
2017	90.0	3,665	36.09	3.5%	0.6%	37%
2018	95.9	3,803	39.99	4.0%	1.1%	38%
2019	101.0	3,901	39.67	3.4%	2.5%	42%
2020	102.7	3,870	40.86	0.5%	2.5%	45%
2021	110.9	4,073	45.39	3.6%	2.3%	46%
2022	123.3	4,419	44.32	3.8%	4.6%	47%

• 
  Douala
• 
  A touristic area in Limbe
• 
  Yaoundé Sport palace
• 
  A Fulani herder drives his cattle in northern Cameroon.
• 
  Douala International Airport
• 
  Intercity buses in transit during the night (Touristique Express)
• 
  Interurban passenger train on the move in Cameroon (Douala-Yaounde-Ngaoundere)
• 
  Douala Seaport
• 
  A truck transporting beers to various localities in Cameroon

• Cameroon
• Transport in Cameroon
• United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

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