Cameroon, Central Africa’s second-largest economy, needs to strengthen its tax collection and improve public spending efficiency to boost economic growth, according to the World Bank.

Despite reducing its fiscal deficit by approximately 5 percentage points over six years to just 1.1% of GDP in 2022, largely through cuts in public investment, the World Bank emphasizes that targeted spending is crucial for sustainable growth.

“Cameroon’s fiscal consolidation was expenditure-driven, leading to low levels of public spending that hinder the provision of adequate services and infrastructure investment,” the World Bank noted in a recent report.

To enhance its economic performance, Cameroon needs a medium-term revenue strategy focused on more effective tax collection and improved allocation of resources. Social sectors like health and education have been particularly impacted by under-investment and inefficiencies.

The report also highlights the need to diversify revenue sources, as direct taxation remains low and stagnant. Cameroon’s reliance on value-added tax is compounded by underperforming international trade taxes and levies on property and forests, which cover a third of the country’s territory.

Amid rising global interest rates, borrowing costs in dollars have increased, forcing many governments to seek domestic solutions. However, Cameroon recently secured $550 million through a dollar bond sale with a yield of 10.75%, indicating an urgent need for financing despite challenging conditions.

Cameroon has faced numerous crises, including the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Additionally, internal conflicts have exacerbated poverty in various regions, and a decline in crude oil production has strained government revenue.

Nonetheless, the International Monetary Fund anticipates growth to accelerate from 3.3% in 2023 to 3.9% in 2024, despite a tense political atmosphere. The 91-year-old President Paul Biya, who has ruled for nearly 42 years, is expected to seek re-election in the upcoming February presidential polls, amidst increasing political repression.

Source: Bloomberg

The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy will lead a mission of local entrepreneurs to Cameroon to explore investment opportunities in the African country and promote new projects. The mission, the date of which is not known, was announced in recent days by the former president himself, who met the president of Cameroon on the occasion of the Paris Olympics Paul Biya.

Sarkozy, who led France from 2007 to 2012, included the mission as part of his legal activities, specializing in relations between international investors. Furthermore, the topic was at the center of the 30-minute conversation with Biya, during which the parties reviewed the issues relating to French investments in Cameroon, as well as the details of the aforementioned mission. An initiative intended to shake up relations between private individuals, after French foreign direct investments (FDI) in the African country are declining: in 2022, these had reached 64 million euros, down compared to the 103 million recorded in 2021.

According to the report on Cameroon’s foreign trade published in April by the National Institute of Statistics, in 2023 France is in second place on the podium of Cameroon’s best customers, behind the Netherlands. With the African country, Paris has conquered a market share of 12,3 percent, while on the other hand Yaoundé’s exports to France are led by liquefied natural gas (47,6 percent), followed by products such as oils of crude oil (23,6 percent), cocoa butter (7 percent), fuels and lubricants (6,1 percent), crude aluminum (3,2 percent), aluminum paste and cocoa (3,2 percent) and sawn wood (3 percent). These products, the report specifies, will represent 2023 percent of exports to France in 96,1. In the same year, France ranked third among Cameroon’s suppliers with a volume of goods of 537,7 tons, equal to 7,6 percent of the market share. Around 200 companies work in the African country and over a hundred branches owned or managed by French citizens.

Source: agenzianova

Cameroon has raised 550 million U.S. dollars from its international bond sale, Finance Minister Louis Paul Motaze has said.

The bonds were issued “on favorable terms” during a three-day operation that ended Wednesday in London, the minister said.

“The funds thus mobilized will make it possible to significantly continue the clearance of domestic debt in order to stimulate the activities of SMEs, consolidate the growth of the economy, strengthen the confidence of the private sector in the state and improve the business climate,” Motaze said in a statement Wednesday.

The bonds were a vote of confidence in the credibility of Cameroon and its ability to attract investors to fund its national development strategy, he said.

Source: Xinhuanet

An extraordinary meeting of the board of Cameroon’s oil and gas corporation (SNH) is scheduled for next July 24 at the Presidential Palace, not at the company’s headquarters. The info is detailed in a letter from the board’s chairman, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, who also serves as the Secretary General of the Presidency.

“Dear Board Member, I am pleased to inform you that the extraordinary board meeting of SNH, originally planned for Wednesday, July 17, 2024, has been rescheduled to Wednesday, July 24, 2024, at 2:00 PM, in Room 8324 of the Secretary General’s Office at the Presidential Palace, maintaining the same agenda,” reads the letter from Ngoh Ngoh to board member Jules Mana Nschwangele. This notice confirms various rumors circulating since July 17, 2024.

The rescheduling confirms that the board meeting initially set for July 17 did not take place. Reports from various digital platforms, later corroborated by board members, indicate that the meeting was blocked due to the closure of the company’s doors, a decision reportedly made by SNH’s current General Administrator, Adolphe Moudiki.

Handover of power

Internal sources suggest that on July 17, 2024, board members were turned away from SNH’s headquarters despite arriving to attend the meeting. The shift of the meeting to the presidential palace highlights the challenges in organizing such events at the company’s main office.

Furthermore, the board’s notification hints at a significant decision expected from this extraordinary session, which has only one item on the agenda, according to the Secretary General’s letter. Various sources indicate that the meeting will likely lead to the replacement of the General Administrator. After 31 years in charge, Adolphe Moudiki is expected to be succeeded by Joseph Dipepa, a prominent RDPC party member from the Littoral region.

It appears that Moudiki’s frustration is not solely with the prospect of being replaced but also with not being informed about his impending departure from the company. Additionally, there seems to be dissatisfaction about not being consulted on a replacement, as Dipepa’s appointment has reportedly stirred discontent among SNH’s old guard. Notably, on March 6, 2024, Moudiki signed a memo hinting at a power transition, though it still left him central to the management structure while delegating significant responsibilities to Igor Emmanuel Soya Bissaya, his second advisor.

Glencore Case

Beyond the anticipated leadership change at SNH, recent developments reflect ongoing tensions between the General Administrator and the Chairman. Disputes have arisen in connection with the Savannah Energy case. This British junior oil company had signed an agreement with SNH on April 19, 2023, to purchase 10% of assets claimed by Savannah in the Cameroon Oil Transportation Company (Cotco), which manages over 90% of the Chad-Cameroon pipeline in Cameroon. This agreement led to a diplomatic crisis between Cameroon and Chad, with Chad contesting Savannah’s claims in Cotco and in Chad Oil Transportation Company (Totco), as well as in Chadian oil fields.

In response, SNH Chairman Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh was dispatched to N’Djamena by President Biya, following Chad’s recall of its ambassador from Cameroon. Ngoh Ngoh announced the resolution of the crisis after meeting with the Chadian President on April 26, 2023. He then chaired an SNH board meeting on June 13, 2023, where the transaction with Savannah Energy was “frozen.” Unusually, the official statement on this decision bore the Presidential Palace’s letterhead instead of SNH’s. Sources suggest this statement bypassed another version being prepared by SNH before being sent to the Chairman for approval.

Additionally, there is the Glencore case, involving the Anglo-Swiss trader sentenced in November 2022 for bribing public officials in Africa, including Cameroon. After SNH publicly denounced such practices, Moudiki reportedly sought a state investigation into SNH’s involvement in the Glencore scandal. This request, though approved by the President, is seen by some as a move to settle scores with close aides of the President.

Source: Business in Cameroon

In June 2024, consumer prices in Cameroon rose by 4.3% year-on-year, according to a report on household consumption prices published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). This increase is attributed to a 5.2% rise in food prices and an 11.2% increase in transportation costs.

Despite a gradual decline from a peak of 8.5% in March 2023, the inflation rate remains above the 3% tolerance threshold set by the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC).

“On a regional level, inflation rates vary between 5.1% and 7.4%. However, the rate is 3.6% in Bamenda (…) Depending on the origin of the products, inflation is mainly due to internal factors. Prices of local products rose by 6.1%, while those of imported products only increased by 4.5% over the same period”, states the INS report.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Anglophone businessmen and women have told the Cameroon Concord News Group that they have suffered huge losses since President Biya declared war against the English speaking people of Southern Cameroons and many have attacked the regime in Yaoundé for refusing to bail them out.

Now known as the Southern Cameroons Crisis, the leader of the English speaking peoples of West Cameroon Sisiku Ayuk Tabe declared the independence of Southern Cameroons from the majority French speaking East Cameroun.

The regime in Yaoundé responded with a genocidal war that has claimed the lives of thousands of Southern Cameroonians.

Reacting to the Southern Cameroons plight, Ambazonia fighters from both the South West and North West have staged hundreds of anti French Cameroun operations killing more than five thousand Cameroon government army soldiers.

Our chief correspondent Rita Akana approached several businessmen and women in Bamenda, Buea, Kumba and Mamfe who described how they had been piling up losses as a result of the war in Southern Cameroons and Biya regime’s rejection of their pleas for compensation.

Hotel owners said the Anglophone diaspora came home every December in their thousands and visited their hotels and entertainment halls and restaurants. But everything is now frozen and the loss so far is estimated in millions of US dollars.

“Not one person from Europe or the US will come to Limbe or Buea this December,” a businessman who spoke to our cream of reporters but sued for anonymity said.

“We are not asking Biya and his government for 100% compensation. Bring even 20%, that will be okay. But since the war started and kontry Sunday took over, we haven’t received a penny from Yaoundé,” a Bamenda based business lady added.

Five hotel managers in Bamenda echoed her remarks.

A businessman in Kumba the chief city in Meme Division noted how his business used to provide for 24 employees and attract hundreds on a daily basis.

Now, “we spend most of our time rolling over debts,” he stated.

Three hotel owners in Fako Division hinted that their hundreds of millions of FCFA investments have evaporated following the war and they are sure to end 2024 in debt for the loans and interest,” they said.

Reporting last month, our Bamenda City reporter Fon Lawrence revealed that many businesses had shut down throughout the North West region since the beginning of the war and the fire that destroyed the Bamenda Main Market.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai