Célestin Tawamba paints a bleak picture of Cameroon’s economic performance

On Tuesday 23 June 2026, the president of the Groupement des Entreprises du Cameroun (GECAM) delivered a stark assessment of the obstacles hampering the nation’s economic development.

According to the GECAM leader, Cameroon’s growth rate slipped to 3.1% in 2025, down from 3.5% in 2024 — a pace he considers far too slow to meet the country’s 2035 emergence target. For context, sub-Saharan Africa is projected to grow at an average of 4.5%, while the UEMOA zone is expected to reach 6.4%. Within the CEMAC region, where Cameroon remains the largest economy, the average growth stands at only 2.6%.

This underperformance is largely driven by the collapse of the oil sector. Hydrocarbons shrank by 6.9% in 2025, following a sharp 9.7% decline in 2024, confirming GECAM’s view that petroleum is no longer the country’s primary growth engine.

286,000 tonnes

Other sectors offer little reassurance. In the primary sector, growth dropped from 3.6% to 1.7% in just one year. Industrial and export-oriented agriculture swung from +8.7% in 2024 to -3.2% in 2025, a result of adverse weather conditions and falling export volumes across several value chains, he added.

Cotton is one of the clearest symbols of this decline. Production reached only 286,000 tonnes, well below the 400,000-tonne target. Export volumes plummeted by 24%, and the value of those exports crashed by 29.8%.

1.7% to 2%

“Even the most successful sectors reveal certain fragilities. The cocoa season posted a record harvest of 309,518 tonnes, but export volumes declined by 9%, despite an 18% rise in export earnings thanks to soaring global prices. Coffee follows a similar pattern: production grew from 10,562 to 11,637 tonnes, while export quantities fell 2%, compensated by a 3.9% increase in revenues,” explained the head of the employers’ association.

Meanwhile, Cameroon continues to deepen its reliance on food imports. Maize imports rose by 4.5%, highlighting, according to GECAM, the persistent difficulties in achieving national food security. The industrial sector is also struggling to fulfill its role as a driver of economic transformation. Its growth inched up only from 1.7% to 2%, while manufacturing slowed from 2.9% to 2.2%. The business community attributes this to high energy costs, logistical bottlenecks, financing constraints, and a lack of competitiveness in the production apparatus.