Yaoundé stands alone in CEMAC with improved external balance in 2024 ⁰

Cameroon was the only country in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) to improve its current account balance in 2024, the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) revealed in its March 2025 monetary policy report.

The country’s current account deficit dropped from 4.3% of GDP in 2023 to 2.9% in 2024. This positive shift stands in sharp contrast with the rest of the region, where most member states saw their external balances worsen. Cameroon’s progress is mainly tied to stronger trade figures either due to higher exports, lower imports, or both as well as a rise in inflows from abroad.

The new data backs up the optimistic outlook shared earlier by the Cameroonian Ministry of Finance. In December 2024, the country’s national balance of payments committee had already reported a positive overall balance of CFA10 billion in Q2 2024. This followed a CFA114.6 billion deficit in the previous quarter.

“This turnaround is mostly the result of a sharp increase in foreign financing, which outweighed the deepening current account deficit. Year-over-year, however, the overall surplus shrank by CFA229.2 billion,” the committee explained at the time.

Meanwhile, economic performance across the rest of the region declined. In the Central African Republic, the current account deficit jumped from 4.0% to 10.8% of GDP between 2023 and 2024. Congo’s deficit grew from 4.5% to 10.1%. Equatorial Guinea saw its deficit rise from 3.4% to 5.2% of GDP. Gabon, which still maintains a surplus, reported a decline from 7.9% to 6.8%, and Chad’s surplus narrowed from 4.4% to 3.3%.

Source: Business in Cameroon