Cameroon’s Economic Diplomacy: A Lever for Economic Growth and Development

Introduction

Cameroon’s economic diplomacy is now a key lever for stimulating growth and promoting sustainable and inclusive development. Despite modest GDP growth estimated at 3.5% in 2024, compared to 3.2% in 2023, the country is showing resilience, driven by promising sectors such as cocoa, cotton, and improved energy supply (World Bank, 2025). Inflation has fallen sharply, from 7.4% to 4.5%, thanks to rigorous monetary policies and price controls. However, vulnerabilities remain: the budget deficit has widened to 1.5% of GDP, and public debt has risen slightly to 46.8%. At the same time, poverty remains high (around 40% of the population lives below the national poverty line, including 23% in extreme poverty) and governance remains weak, with the country ranking 140th out of 180 in the corruption index (World Bank, 2025).

In this context, economic diplomacy, i.e., a coordinated strategy to attract investment, boost exports, secure smart financing, and enhance the value of our natural capital, must become a structuring tool. It must enable Cameroon to transform these challenges into solid opportunities, charting a new course for sustainable and equitable growth.

Section 1. Overview of Cameroon’s Economic Situation

In 2024, Cameroon is experiencing moderate but sustained economic growth (~3.5%), driven by rising cocoa prices, improved cotton yields, and enhanced energy distribution. The outlook is encouraging: the World Bank anticipates average growth of 3.9% over 2025–2028, while the African Development Bank forecasts +4.1% in 2024 and +4.4% in 2025, thanks to the gas boom, monetary stability, and fiscal reforms (AfDB, 2025). Moody’s and Fitch note that debt remains manageable, although vulnerability to a liquidity crisis persists. However, structural constraints are weighing heavily: fragile governance, heavy bureaucracy, corruption, and lack of infrastructure are slowing down the economy (Lloyds Bank Trade, 2025). Inequality persists, poverty is historically entrenched, and the Anglophone conflict continues to exacerbate tensions, hampering human capital formation in several regions.

Finally, the country’s natural wealth—forests, biodiversity, agriculture—remains under-exploited: despite an increase in total national wealth, per capita wealth declined by 11% between 1995 and 2020, reflecting a degradation of our natural capital. These factors underscore the urgent need for a rethought economic strategy, in which economic diplomacy becomes a pivot for attracting targeted investment, developing local value chains, and ensuring sustainable and inclusive growth.

Section 2. Economic Diplomacy Actors in Cameroon: Roles and Missions

Cameroon’s economic diplomacy is based on a diversified architecture, integrating public actors, specialized institutions, and diplomatic networks. At the heart of this central system are key ministries (Economy, Finance, Trade, Industry, Mines, Planning, Foreign Affairs) that coordinate the national strategy for attracting investment and promoting exports. Alongside the state, specialized public bodies such as the Investment Promotion Agency (API), the Export Promotion Agency, the Investment Code Management Unit, and the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Crafts (CCIMA) play an operational role in welcoming projects, providing administrative facilitation, and supporting local businesses.

On the diplomatic front, foreign economic missions, such as the Business France Economic Mission and the Regional Economic Service in Yaoundé, strengthen bilateral partnerships and offer targeted services to companies in priority sectors. In addition, the National Trade Facilitation Council (CONAFE), led by a strategic committee involving several ministries, ensures the cohesion of actions in favor of foreign trade. Finally, it is worth mentioning the growing role of structural economic institutions such as the CNSC, which is responsible for collecting trade data, training exporters, and providing logistical support, particularly within the framework of the AfCFTA.

Section 3: The Challenges of Economic Diplomacy for Cameroon

Economic diplomacy is crucial for Cameroon in order to strengthen the competitiveness of domestic companies, promote investment, and secure a strategic position in global value chains. The country can take advantage of bilateral and multilateral agreements to facilitate access to expanded markets, particularly by reducing tariff barriers for industrial inputs and technologies necessary for SME productivity.

Cameroonian companies could thus improve their exports if their products meet the international standards required by these markets. For example, free trade agreements allow SMEs to benefit from tariff preferences to export at lower cost, while having to comply with quality standards. At the multilateral level, it is in Cameroon’s interest to participate actively in negotiations on trade financing, agricultural subsidies, and international regulations, so that the rules favor SMEs.

Recent figures show that Cameroon’s entrepreneurial fabric is heavily dominated by SMEs: in 2023, 99.8% of businesses in Cameroon are SMEs, mostly micro or small enterprises, with the tertiary sector accounting for more than 80%. (Statistical Yearbook 2022/2023, MINPMEESA). This illustrates the critical importance of economic diplomacy for this group of actors, which requires support, training, and access to infrastructure in order to develop.

The Cameroon National Development Strategy 2020-2030 (SND30) places the structural transformation of the economy among its essential pillars. This includes modernizing productive sectors, improving infrastructure, developing high-productivity services and technology in order to specialize in areas where Cameroon has comparative advantages. (SND30, MINEPAT).

Improving logistics and transport infrastructure is a key challenge. According to the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI), Cameroon scores around 2.1 out of 5 for the quality of trade and transport infrastructure in 2022, which remains low and represents a high logistics cost for businesses, particularly informal ones.

Section 4:  Difficulties and Challenges of Economic Diplomacy 

Economic diplomacy in Cameroon faces several obstacles that limit the integration of national companies into international markets. Structural reforms remain insufficient. Public companies involved in foreign trade often lack the tools and expertise needed to deal with the complexity of international trade. It is crucial to involve specialized actors, other than traditional diplomats, in the definition of economic and trade strategies.

Mastering international regulations is a major challenge for Cameroonian SMEs. Tariff and non-tariff barriers imposed by developed countries, such as customs duties, quotas, licenses, and SPS standards, limit access to foreign markets. The lack of information on access conditions and the complexity of trade rules further complicate exports. Proactive economic diplomacy should raise awareness and train companies on trade agreements, product standards, and promising markets to facilitate their adaptation. (ANANGA ONANA, A et al., 2020).

The internationalization of Cameroonian SMEs remains a strategic issue. It involves not only exporting and seeking foreign partners, but also developing competitive and reliable strategies to conquer new markets. This approach, supported by access to reliable diplomatic information, strengthens the country’s competitiveness, credibility, and trade relations. (Atangana Onana et al., 2020).

Finally, access to financing remains a critical constraint. Commercial banks favor strict collateral requirements, limiting access to credit for SMEs, which often resort to self-financing. Specialized mechanisms such as BC-PME and micro-project financing exist, but broader access to capital is needed to support businesses that drive economic growth. (AfDB, 2024).

Recommendations

Recent developments in international relations show a profound transformation in diplomacy, now marked by increasing specialization (economic, digital, security, and sports diplomacy). In this context, Cameroon must adapt its external action to better support its economic development and the implementation of the SND30. To this end, several recommendations can be made:

• Develop a National Economic Diplomacy Strategy, aligned with the objectives of the SND30, aimed at placing diplomats and public actors at the heart of promoting investment, exports, and Cameroon’s economic attractiveness.
• Strengthen the capacities of economic diplomacy actors through regular training and retraining programs for diplomats, ministerial officials, and economic representatives on contemporary issues in international trade, economic negotiation, and geoeconomics.
• Further mobilize public enterprises as levers of economic diplomacy, given their financial resources, institutional reputation, and sectoral expertise, in order to facilitate access to subregional and international markets.
• Encourage cooperation between public enterprises, the private sector, and government agencies in order to build concerted strategies for promoting Cameroon’s economy abroad.
• Restructure and modernize public enterprises, integrating clear economic diplomacy objectives into their governance and strategic plans.
• Establish a National Export Promotion Agency responsible for improving the positioning and competitiveness of Cameroonian products on international markets.

Conclusion

Economic diplomacy offers Cameroon a strategic pathway to convert its resources and partnerships into genuine drivers of sustainable growth. It must address persistent challenges such as the low competitiveness of SMEs, logistical obstacles, fragile governance, and limited access to finance. A more technical, better coordinated diplomacy focused on the needs of businesses will attract quality investment, expand export markets, and support structural transformation. By mobilizing its assets and alliances, Cameroon can build a more resilient, inclusive, and innovation-oriented economy.

Reference

1. African Development Bank. (2025). Cameroon Economic Outlook: Recent macroeconomic and financial developments. https://www.afdb.org/en/countries-central-africa-republic-cameroun/cameroon-economic-outlook

2. Ananga Onana, A., Sobjio Nangmo, S. L., & Kemegne, B. N. (2020). L’internationalisation des PME en contexte camerounais : une réponse cohérente face aux mutations de l’environnement. Revue Internationale des Sciences de Gestion, 3(1), 83-103. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3632072

3. Banque Mondiale. (2025). Cameroon’s economic update: Harnessing forests and natural wealth for sustainable growth. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2025/07/15/cameroon-economic-update-harnessing-forests-and-natural-wealth-for-sustainable-growth

4. Banque Mondiale. (2025). Cameroon Overview. https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/cameroon/overview

5. Guy Carron De La Carriere. (1998) : La diplomatie économique, le diplomate et le marché.

• Lloyds Bank Trade – International Trade Portal. (2025). The economic context of Cameroon. https://www.lloydsbanktrade.com/en/market-potential/cameroon/economical-context

7. Stevenson, Lois. (2010). Développement du secteur privé et des entreprises : Favoriser la croissance au Moyen-Orient et en Afrique du Nord. Cheltenham & Northampton, UK/USA : Edward Elgar / Centre de recherches pour le développement international (IDRC). ISBN 978-1-55250-474-1. https://idrc-crdi.ca/fr/livres/developpement-du-secteur-prive-et-des-entreprises-favoriser-la-croissance-au-moyen-orient-et

8. Ministère des Petites et Moyennes Entreprises. (2022). Rapport d’analyse, annuaire statistique sur les PMEESA

9. Nalova Akua. (2024). À quoi vous attendiez-vous ? Une guerre sans effusion de sang ? https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/nov/21/what-were-you-expecting-a-bloodless-war-how-cameroon-became-trapped-in-a-forgotten-standoff

AUTHORS

Ronald Akono

Research Fellow

&

Haiwang Djamo

National Coordinator & Research Analyst

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