• Cameroon:
• Economy

Cameroon - Economy

Overview: Cameroon developed rapidly from 1978 thanks to its oil wealth, agricultural diversity and well developed agro-industries. However, after the mid-1980s, the economy declined and debt rose. From the late 1980s, the World Bank and IMF supported a series of economic reform programmes, which included cuts in public expenditure (public-sector wages were reduced by 70% in 1993), structural adjustment, privatisation of the many publicly owned enterprises, and rescheduling external debt. From the mid-1990s, growth was sustained at 4–5% p.a. in a climate of relatively low inflation, as a result of the prudent monetary policies of the regional central bank. From 2003 the economy grew more slowly, by 3.6% in 2004 and 2.4% in 2005.

In the run-up to privatisation, some 70 state-owned enterprises were closed down and others restructured, with a loss of about 20,000 jobs. Then from the late 1990s the state-owned rail company Régifercam (having been streamlined by halving its staff), CAMSUCO (sugar), SOCAPALM (palm oil), BICEC (the last remaining state-owned bank) and SONEL (electricity) were privatised; SNEC (water) was restructured as a public–private partnership; and Cameroon Airlines was liquidated (2006). In 2006, too, the government was proceeding with privatisation of CAMTEL (telecoms).

Trade: Exports of goods and services account for 26% of GDP and manufactured exports for 5% of total merchandise exports (2004). The principal exports are crude oil, timber and cork, cocoa, cotton, aluminium and coffee. Principal imports are manufactured goods, food and fuels. Chief export partners are Italy, Spain and France. Chief import partners are France, Nigeria and the USA.

Oil and gas: Oil production began in 1978 but fell steadily from its peak of 186,000 barrels a day in 1985 to 81,900 barrels a day in 2005, although government has made exploitation of marginal oilfields more viable and two new small fields have boosted production. Crude oil is, nevertheless, the largest foreign-currency earner and accounted for 50% of export earnings in 2004. The oil is found in the Rio del Rey basin, close to the Nigerian border and the country has proven oil reserves of 215 million barrels. Natural gas reserves of about 110bn cubic metres have also been found, at Rio del Rey and in the basin extending to the south of Douala, but are not yet being exploited. Further oil exploration is underway in the north, close to the Chad border, and in the west around Mamfé, close to the Nigerian border. Prospects for large offshore finds of oil and gas were dramatically improved in 2006 when Nigeria agreed that the Bakassi peninsula would be ceded to Cameroon.