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 exportspetroleum, 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]

Economy of Cameroon
Douala, the economic capital of Cameroon
CurrencyCFA franc (XAF)
Calendar year
Trade organisations
AU, AfCFTA (signed), ECCAS, WTO
Country group
Statistics
PopulationIncrease 25,216,237 (2018)[3]
GDP
  • Decrease $38.632 billion (nominal, 2019 est.)[4]
  • Increase $100.884 billion (PPP, 2019 est.)[4]
GDP rank
GDP growth
  • 3.5% (2017) 4.1% (2018)
  • 4.0% (2019e) 4.2% (2020f)[5]
GDP per capita
  • Decrease $1,515 (nominal, 2019 est.)[4]
  • Increase $3,955 (PPP, 2019 est.)[4]
GDP per capita rank
GDP by sector
2.2% (2020 est.)[4]
Population below poverty line
46.6 high (2014, World Bank)[9]
Labour force
  • Increase 11,354,044 (2019)[12]
  • 69.6% employment rate (2014)[13]
Labour force by occupation
Unemployment4.3% (2014 est.)[6]
Main industries
petroleum production and refining, aluminium production, food processing, light consumer goods, textiles, lumber, ship repair
External
ExportsIncrease $4.732 billion (2017 est.)[6]
Export goods
crude oil and petroleum products, lumber, cocoa beans, aluminium, coffee, cotton
Main export partners
ImportsDecrease $4.812 billion (2017 est.)[6]
Import goods
machinery, electrical equipment, transport equipment, fuel, food
Main import partners
Increase −$932 million (2017 est.)[6]
Negative increase $9.375 billion (31 December 2017 est.)[6]
Public finances
Negative increase 36.9% of GDP (2017 est.)[6]
−3.4% (of GDP) (2017 est.)[6]
Revenues5.363 billion (2017 est.)[6]
Expenses6.556 billion (2017 est.)[6]
Economic aidThe Paris Club agreed to reduce Cameroon's debt of $1.3 billion by $900 million, debt relief now totals $1.26 billion (2001)
Increase $3.235 billion (31 December 2017 est.)[6]
All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.
Cocoa Farm

Agriculture

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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]

Finance and banking

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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]

Macro-economic trend

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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.

 
Cameroonian exports in 2006

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.

Year Gross Domestic Product US Dollar Exchange
1980 1,600,186 209.20 Francs
1985 4,355,977 471.12 Francs
1990 3,804,428 300.65 Francs
1995 4,686,286 518.62 Francs
2000 6,612,385 658.21 Francs
2005 8,959,279 527.29 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%

Mining

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "World Economic Outlook Database, April 2019". IMF.org. International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  2. ^ "World Bank Country and Lending Groups". datahelpdesk.worldbank.org. World Bank. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  3. ^ "Population, total". data.worldbank.org. World Bank. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d e "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2019". IMF.org. International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  5. ^ "Global Economic Prospects, January 2020 : Slow Growth, Policy Challenges" (PDF). openknowledge.worldbank.org. World Bank. p. 147. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Cameroon". The World Factbook (2024 ed.). Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 8 February 2019. (Archived 2019 edition.)
  7. ^ "Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines (% of population)". data.worldbank.org. World Bank. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  8. ^ "Poverty headcount ratio at $3.20 a day (2011 PPP) (% of population) - Cameroon". data.worldbank.org. World Bank. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  9. ^ "GINI index (World Bank estimate)". data.worldbank.org. World Bank. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  10. ^ "Human Development Index (HDI)". hdr.undp.org. HDRO (Human Development Report Office) United Nations Development Programme. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  11. ^ "Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI)". hdr.undp.org. HDRO (Human Development Report Office) United Nations Development Programme. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  12. ^ "Labor force, total". data.worldbank.org. World Bank. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  13. ^ "Employment to population ratio, 15+, total (%) (national estimate) - Cameroon". data.worldbank.org. World Bank. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  14. ^ "Sovereigns rating list". Standard & Poor's. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
  15. ^ a b Tambi, Mbu Daniel (30 March 2015). "Economic Growth, Crisis, and Recovery in Cameroon: A Literature Review". Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business. 6 (1): 5–15. doi:10.13106/ijidb.2015.vol6.no1.5.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: ignored DOI errors (link)
  16. ^ Cameroon production in 2018, by FAO
  17. ^ "Cameroon Financial Sector Profile: MFW4A - Making Finance Work for Africa". www.mfw4a.org. Archived from the original on 13 May 2011. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  18. ^ IMF.org
  19. ^ Thomas Deltombe, Manuel Domergue, Jacob Tatsita, Kamerun !, La Découverte, 2019
  20. ^ "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects". Retrieved 29 August 2018.
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