Cameroon

2023-07-16

Cameroon is a lower-middle-income country with a population of 27.2 million (2021). It has a land mass of 475,442km² and a coastline of 360km located along the Atlantic Ocean. It shares its borders with the Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Nigeria. Two of its border regions with Nigeria (northwest and southwest) are Anglophone, while the rest of the country is Francophone. Cameroon is endowed with rich natural resources, including oil and gas, mineral ores and timber, and agricultural products such as coffee, cotton, cocoa, maize, and cassava. Cameroon's GDP was US$44.34bn in 2022, according to World Bank data.

Since November 2021, Cameroon has experienced high inflation, driven mainly by shortages and increased prices of staple goods (bread, wheat and related products, vegetable oil, and meat) due to the disruption of the global value chain due to the pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war. The war has impeded Cameroon's economic recovery, heightening inflation pressures and domestic structural vulnerabilities. Despite the global economic turmoil, real GDP growth is projected to reach 4.6% by 2024.

Economic growth in recent years has predominately been driven by expansion in the secondary sector, with the oil-producing and construction sectors having exceptional growth, and industrial development will predominantly be driven by the implementation of large-scale infrastructure investments such as the Lom Pangar power station and the port of Kribi.

Sources: Who Owns Whom sector reports, CIA Factbook, African Development Bank, World Bank, Trading Economics, African Statistical Yearbook and IMF.