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	$38.632 billion (nominal, 2019 est.)[4] $100.884 billion (PPP, 2019 est.)[4]
GDP rank	93rd (nominal, 2019) 84th (PPP, 2019)
GDP growth	3.5% (2017) 4.1% (2018) 4.0% (2019e) 4.2% (2020f)[5]
GDP per capita	$1,515 (nominal, 2019 est.)[4] $3,955 (PPP, 2019 est.)[4]
GDP per capita rank	148th (nominal, 2019) 146th (PPP, 2019)
GDP by sector	agriculture: 16.7% industry: 26.5% services: 56.8% (2017 est.)[6]
Inflation (CPI)	2.2% (2020 est.)[4]
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.)[6]
Unemployment	4.3% (2014 est.)[6]
Main industries	petroleum production and refining, aluminium production, food processing, light consumer goods, textiles, lumber, ship repair
Ease-of-doing-business rank	167th (below average, 2020)[14]
External
Exports	$4.732 billion (2017 est.)[6]
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)[6]
Imports	$4.812 billion (2017 est.)[6]
Import goods	machinery, electrical equipment, transport equipment, fuel, food
Main import partners	China 19%  France 10.3%  Thailand 7.9%  Nigeria 4.1% (2017)[6]
Current account	−$932 million (2017 est.)[6]
Gross external debt	$9.375 billion (31 December 2017 est.)[6]
Public finances
Public debt	36.9% of GDP (2017 est.)[6]
Budget balance	−3.4% (of GDP) (2017 est.)[6]
Revenues	5.363 billion (2017 est.)[6]
Expenses	6.556 billion (2017 est.)[6]
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)
Credit rating	Standard & Poor's:[15] B (Domestic) B (Foreign) BBB- (T&C Assessment)
Foreign reserves	$3.235 billion (31 December 2017 est.)[6]
Main data source: CIA World Fact Book All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.

Cocoa Farm

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.^[16]

Agriculture[]

Cameroon produced in 2018:

• 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 thousand tonnes of yam (7th largest producer in the world);
• 594 thousand tons of peanut;
• 410 thousand tons of sweet potato;
• 402 thousand tons of beans;
• 332 thousand tons of rice;
• 310 thousand tons of pineapple;
• 307 thousand tons of cocoa (5th largest producer in the world, losing to Ivory Coast, Ghana, Indonesia and Nigeria);
• 302 thousand tons of potato;
• 301 thousand tons of onion;
• 249 thousand tons of cotton;

In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products, such as coffee (33 thousand tons) and natural rubber (55 thousand tons).^[17]

Finance and banking[]

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).^[16]

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.^[18]

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.^[19]

Macro-economic trend[]

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.^[20]

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 ; 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 1980–2017.^[21]

Gallery[]

• 

  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

See also[]

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

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Economy of Cameroon.

• Economy of Cameroon at Curlie
• Cameroon latest trade data on ITC Trade Map
• World Bank Summary Trade Statistics Cameroon