• GDP: US$13.6 billion.
• Main exports: Crude oil and petroleum products, timber, cocoa, aluminium, coffee and cotton.
• Main imports: Machinery, electrical equipment, transport equipment and food products.
• Main trade partners: France, Italy, Nigeria, Belgium, Spain, The Netherlands, Germany and USA.

Cameroon has enjoyed broad economic success since independence, by virtue of consistent agricultural performance and the rapid growth of its oil industry, although it has suffered some reverses through persistently low world commodity prices. The main agricultural products are cocoa (of which Cameroon is one of the world’s largest producers), coffee, bananas, cotton, palm oil, wood and rubber. There are sizeable but largely unexploited deposits of iron ore, bauxite, copper, chromium, uranium and other metals. Hydro-electric projects meet almost all the country’s energy needs, so that oil and gas are largely treated as export products. There are some offshore oil deposits, although the largest are located near the disputed Bakassi peninsula. The manufacturing industry is concentrated on processing of primary products – most of these are indigenous, although imported raw materials (such as Guinean bauxite, which feeds the aluminium industry) also play an important role. Wood and timber products, oil and coal, and food and drinks are the main sectors. During the 1990s, the government opened up much of the economy to competition. The economy has been growing steadily at an annual rate of approximately 5 per cent since 2000. The IMF agreed a structural adjustment programme with Cameroon in 1995; this was extended beyond the normal three-year term and continues to set the ground rules for the country’s economic policy. The capital, Douala, now hosts one of sub-Saharan Africa’s few stock exchanges, which was opened in 2002.

Office hours: Mon-Fri 0730-1700. Government office hours: Mon-Fri 0730-1530.

Chambre de Commerce
BP 36, Yaoundé, Cameroon
Tel: 222 4776.