Cameroon for several years experienced an economic boom from sectors like the exportation of agricultural products (Coffee, cocoa and cotton) and petroleum. But with a fall in world prices for primary products, Cameroon experienced serious crises. After its budgetary year of 1985-1986, its economy went into serious recession. An evaluation during this period revealed that the economy had experienced a brutal drop in revenue from exportation. This drop affected petroleum as well as other primary products that were exported at the time. This drop was estimated at about 329 billion FCFA, this being about 8.2 % of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Degradation of the economic sector increased further between 1986-1987 due to the persistent drop in the price of the main products exported (Petroleum, coffee, cocoa and cotton). Economic growth rate was henceforth negative. From 1985 to 1988, exchange rated dropped by half.
      To cope with this crisis, the government in a first place put in place a policy of internal adjustment in which salaries of civil servants were reduced and other costs of production. The reduction in the standards of living and the influence of the state in the economy did not seem to be making the situation any better. Economic indicators did not stop emitting negative signals. A continues decrease in revenue induced a 40% drop in consumption per Cameroonian between the years 1985-1986 and 1992-1993. External debts incurred increased from less than half to more than three quarters of the GDP between 1984-1985 and 1992-1993. The investment rate decreased from 27% to less than 11% of the GDP. To cope with the situation marked by rising tensions at the treasuries, the government opted for salary cuts in the civil service in 1993.
    From 1994, new economic policies based on monetary adjustments were put in place; leading to a gradual change in trends. Remarkable changes were made at the level of exportation as well as on the general scenario of government’s budget. The government however continued to suffer from the inability to cope with internal an external pressure, coming from debts that could not be paid. Relations with foreign partners equally turned to a stalemate. Two new programs of structural adjustments concluded with the IMF as agreements all failed as it was with the preceding ones. In all, all attempts to solve internal and external debts at the time failed completely.
    It was only later in August 1997 that the government was able to come to terms with the IMF after successfully going through a reference program followed up by this institution. An accelerated structural adjustment plan was put in place in which the IMF gave full support for an economic and financial program which had to be realized within a period from 1st July 1997 to 30th June 2000.
    The execution of this program came alongside a voluntary action staged by the government to portray a better image of credibility of Cameroon abroad; this by paying back about 05 billion dollars of debts owed. The government also went ahead to closely associate with the private and public sector towards the evaluation of a three year economic and financial program as well as negotiating on a financial agreement with the IMF. These moves led to a better adhesion of economic operators and the civil society to policies of adjustment and reform. 
     The governments financial and economic program for the period stretching from 1st July 1997 to 30th June 2000 was satisfactorily executed, with the needed support from determinant International financial bodies like the IMF through its structural adjustment facility, the World Bank, through a third loan for structural adjustment, the European Union, the African Development Bank and the Paris Club.
   However, in spite of the agreements of Naples concluded with the Paris Club in Paris in 1997, the service of external debts still continued to weight heavily on public funds, due to a deviation of resources meant for indispensable intervention by the state in the execution of its regular missions (like justice and security) in favor of social sectors (like education and health) and in the domain of maintenance, rehabilitation and amelioration of infrastructure. The eligibility of Cameroon to the alignment reinforced by the Highly Indebted Poor Countries initiative (HIPC), decided upon in May 2000 by the administrative council of the IMF and World Bank, opened up new perspectives of development for the country. This was thanks to efforts put in place by the government; making Cameroon to attain this status in October 2000.
   The good performance registered during the execution of the three year financial plan of 1997-2000 concretely enabled macroeconomic stability as well as the long needed bases for a sustainable economic growth. From 1996-1997 to 1999-2000, the mean annual growth of the GDP stood at 4.5% and inflation, measured by the index of the final price of consumption by homes was redressed to less than 1%. The situation with public finance greatly improved, thanks to a better mobilization of funds and a rationalization of national expenses.
     Success on the macroeconomic scale did not necessarily mean an amelioration of living conditions amongst Cameroonians. In effect, living standards dropped considerable during the ten years over which Cameroon experienced economic crises. The availability and access to basic social services provided by the state were seriously affected during this period and very little could be done at the time. Route infrastructure also degraded seriously due to lack of maintenance. The construction of new road was totally stopped. Water and electrification programs also experienced serious drawbacks especially in rural area due to lack of financing.
                        As concerns employment, the restructuring of enterprises of the public and private sector, which led to the closure of some companies on the one hand and the freezing of recruitment in the public service on the other hand led to increasing unemployment. Between 1984 and 1991, the level of employment decreased by 10% and reached 17% in 1995. This mostly affected the youthful population as well as women, thus leading to a rise in the informal sector. In 2001, unemployment affected more than 12% of the active population, 16% in urban areas and 8% in rural areas; with record highs in Douala and Yaounde that registered 18% and 14% respectively. The situation may at times seem to get better due to an involvement of people in the informal sector, yet most of such employment is precarious and unstable.
      The government has launched a series of measures through the National employment Fund (NIF) aimed at ensuring transparency in the job market and encouraging unemployed citizens through trainings and workshops on how to create small private micro projects. The government has also created a National employment and professional training observatory (Onefop) in order to ameliorate its knowledge about the job market. Other strategies have also been put in place such as the creation of a platform for dialogue between organizations/companies and training centers/universities and between the government and private sectors through a ministerial committee enlarged to include the private sector and other frameworks of dialogue.
       In the educational sector, the drop in the budgetary envelop allocated to education was manifested by an insufficiency of hosting structures due to a halt in the construction of classrooms; a decrease in the teacher to student ratio, due to the lack of recruitment of teachers; insufficiency of didactic materials and other teaching and learning auxiliaries; an absence of equity and inefficiency in the management of the whole system. The consequences of all these were: a net deterioration of the educational system, marked by a high rate of repeat cases in classes and finally abandonment; marked disparities in the access to education according to gender and geographic region; disparity in he creation of schools; degradation in the quality of teaching and learning; and a highly centralized management of the educational system.
       Identical problems were encountered in the domain of health. Till today, the health system is still seriously affected by the halt in the construction and acquisition of health training equipments; halt in the recruitment of health personnel in the public service; insufficiency in the quality and quantity of health personnel as well as a low distribution of health services throughout the country and its low output due to the drastic cuts of salaries and the loss of motivation by personnel. The ratio of patients to personnel is very weak; one doctor for 10 000 inhabitants, one nurse for 2250 inhabitants and one hospital bed for 770 patients. The degradation of the health system coincides with the appearance of new challenges in the health sector. The most remarkable is HIV/AIDS and malaria which accounts for 40% to 50% of consultations and 28% of admissions. Unfortunately, these diseases mostly affect the active population who normally should have been indulged in the economic development of the country. Hence, the life expectancy still remains low (59%), infant mortality very high (77%) and death of mothers at birth estimated at 430 cases in every 100 000 births.
      Furthermore, Cameroon has over the years experienced a rapid urbanization, greatly spurred up by rural exodus. According to available statistics, more than half of the population of the country lives in towns. The average growth rate of the country is 5% in urban areas, with Yaounde and Douala having rates of 7% and 6.4% respectively. It is estimated that the populations of these towns could double by the year 2015. A combined effect of poorly managed urbanization and economic crises is the proliferation of phenomena such as urban ghettoes, insecurity, traffic jams, poor hygienic conditions, unemployment, multiplication of homeless people, street children, prostitution, mental illnesses, psychological stress etc.
       Faced with these difficulties, there was an urgent need to put in place mechanisms to reverse the situation. The execution of the second three year economic and financial program aided by the IMF was centered on the objective of poverty reduction. Authorities in Yaounde mobilized funds from all over the national territory and there has been total engagement towards poverty reduction in line with agreements reached at national and international levels. Much precisely, objectives in the short and long run are to: reduce by at least, the number of Cameroonians living in poverty by 2015, insure primary education for all by 2015, encourage gender equality and the promotion of women by canceling the disparity between boys and girls in primary and secondary education, reduce by 2/3 infant mortality and deaths at birth by 2015, reduce by half the number of those suffering from malnutrition, ensure access to primary services of reproductive hygiene by those in within the reproductive age group by 2015, arrest and reverse the trend of HIV/AIDS infection by 2015, reduce by half the population that do not have access to portable drinking water by 2015 and finally to put in place strategy of sustainable development between now and 2015 to reverse the trend of natural resource depletion.
       The strategy adopted by the government has been to seek for total adhesion and heavy contribution by all social actors involved the program of poverty reduction which was to a great extent elaborated within the framework of supported participative process, associating all the active components of the Cameroonian society. Participation is the key element behind the success of this vast program.
        From a macroeconomic angle, short term objectives were to increase the GDP to a rate of about 4.4% to 5% in 2002-2003, return to an inflation rate of about 2%, and maintain current accounts between 2.5% to 3% of the GDP. In the domain of public finance, the objective was to increase non-petroleum revenue from 15% of the GDP in 2002-2003 to 16% in 2003-2004 and limit budgetary deficit to less than 3% of the GDP, and maintain primary sales above 6%. In the mid term, it will be to strive for a GDP of at least 6% from 2004-2005; this will lead to an increase of the GDP per head to about 3% to 4%, a minimum needed to sensitively limit reduce poverty in a country having a population growth rate of  2.9%. Measures were taken to increase the rate of investment from 18% of the GDP in 1999-2000 to 19.8% in 2003-2004 and the internal savings rate to 19% of the GDP during the same period.
       Authorities hope to attain these objectives by focusing on the development of non-petroleum sectors through the diversification of exports and ameliorating income levels from custom duties. To this effect, favorable conditions have been put in place for the growth and expansion of Agro industries and for the privatization of major government structures. All these aim at enhancing competition, completing the process of regional integration and diversifying production. Having in mind the facilitation of the process of increasing the production of aluminum, measures have been taken to increase national production of electricity and maintenance of the Douala Sea Port.
       The government has equally proposed carrying actions aimed at correcting structural weaknesses of the economy and has engaged on encouraging activities that have the potential of creating employment and ameliorating the competitive strength of the industrial sector, increasing public and private savings, promoting the private sector and particularly small and medium size enterprises/ handicraft industries, increasing and diversifying products destined for exportation.
       The promotion of good governance and the fight against corruption is equally one of those sectors in which the government has been actively involved of late and is one major move in the program aimed at poverty reduction. The population highly accuse the dominance of this phenomenon on a lose administrative system. Efforts underway are geared towards the creation of a decentralized government; to limit the degree of inefficiency in the system of administration.

From a macroeconomic angle, short term objectives were to increase the GDP to a rate of about 4.4% to 5% in 2002-2003, return to an inflation rate of about 2%, and maintain current accounts between 2.5% to 3% of the GDP. In the domain of public finance, the objective was to increase non-petroleum revenue from 15% of the GDP in 2002-2003 to 16% in 2003-2004 and limit budgetary deficit to less than 3% of the GDP, and maintain primary sales above 6%. In the mid term, it will be to strive for a GDP of at least 6% from 2004-2005; this will lead to an increase of the GDP per head to about 3% to 4%, a minimum needed to sensitively limit reduce poverty in a country having a population growth rate of  2.9%. Measures were taken to increase the rate of investment from 18% of the GDP in 1999-2000 to 19.8% in 2003-2004 and the internal savings rate to 19% of the GDP during the same period.
       Authorities hope to attain these objectives by focusing on the development of non-petroleum sectors through the diversification of exports and ameliorating income levels from custom duties. To this effect, favorable conditions have been put in place for the growth and expansion of Agro industries and for the privatization of major government structures. All these aim at enhancing competition, completing the process of regional integration and diversifying production. Having in mind the facilitation of the process of increasing the production of aluminum, measures have been taken to increase national production of electricity and maintenance of the Douala Sea Port.
       The government has equally proposed carrying actions aimed at correcting structural weaknesses of the economy and has engaged on encouraging activities that have the potential of creating employment and ameliorating the competitive strength of the industrial sector, increasing public and private savings, promoting the private sector and particularly small and medium size enterprises/ handicraft industries, increasing and diversifying products destined for exportation.
       The promotion of good governance and the fight against corruption is equally one of those sectors in which the government has been actively involved of late and is one major move in the program aimed at poverty reduction. The population highly accuse the dominance of this phenomenon on a lose administrative system. Efforts underway are geared towards the creation of a decentralized government; to limit the degree of inefficiency in the system of administration.

Facts about the Economy

Despite being one of the top sub-Saharan economies in terms of primary commodity thanks to its petroleum and to favorable agricultural conditions, Cameroon has a large civil service and an underdeveloped business sector like many of its neighbours.

Nevertheless with the help of IMF and the World Bank organisations the government has tried hard to improve business investment, increase productivity in agriculture, improve trade, and recapitalize the nation's banks.

There are efforts to speed up structural reforms such as budget transparency, privatization, and fight against poverty. GDP - Gross Domestic Product: - $USD27 billion (2002 estimate.) GDP - Gross Domestic Product - growth rate: 4.5 percent (2002 estimate.) GDP - Gross Domestic Product - per capita: - $USD 1,800 (2002 estimate.) GDP - Gross Domestic Product - composition by sector: agriculture: 45 percent industry: 20 percent services: 35 percent (2001 estimate.) Population below poverty line: 50 percent (2000 estimate.) Inflation rate (consumer prices): 5 percent (2002 estimate.) Labor force: NA Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 65 percent, industry and commerce 15 percent, other 20 percent rate of unemployment: 30 percent (2001 estimate.)

Budget information on Cameroon: incomes: $USD2.5 billion spending: $USD2 billion, (Fiscal Year 00/01 estimate.)

Industries: Whole petroleum activity, food processing, light consumer goods, textiles, wood products.

Agriculture - products:

Exports - commodities: crude oil and petroleum products, wood products, cocoa beans, aluminum, coffee, cotton Exports - partners: Italy 17 percent, Spain 15 percent, France 13 percent, US 8.5 percent, Netherlands 8 percent, Taiwan 7.5 percent, China 5 percent, UK 4.5 percent (2002) Imports: $USD2 billion (2002 estimate.)

Imports - commodities: machinery, electrical and transport equipment, fuel , food Imports - partners: France 28 percent, Nigeria 13 percent, US 8 percent, Belgium 6 percent, Germany 5.5 percent, Italy 4 percent (2002) Debt - external: $USD8.5 billion (2002 estimate.) Currency: Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XAF); Currency code: XAF

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