Africa Region Working Paper Series No. 52

Regional Integration in Central Africa: Key Issues

Abstract

The CEMAC, (Communauté Economique et Monétaire de l’Afrique Centrale), is one of the oldest regional arrangements in Africa, consisting of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. In 1994, the member countries established a full-fledged economic and monetary union (treaty was ratified in 1999), strengthening the existing customs and monetary union, which originated in the colonial era.

Linked partly by geography and partly by history, the economies of the CEMAC zone share a number of distinctive characteristics. They are not populous (a combined total population of 32 million), have experienced low historical growth in per capita incomes, made limited strides in poverty reduction over the last several decades, and are highly dependent on oil and other natural resource exports. The economies also share common challenges, both internal and external, such as volatility resulting from reliance on commodity exports, conflicts of interest between richer coastal and poorer landlocked countries, very limited intra-regional linkages, and political instability within CEMAC and neighboring countries.

Regional integration can be a vehicle for overcoming these challenges and a force for improved economic prospects. It may lock countries into policy reform, achieve economies of scale, and provide a unified forum for international negotiations. Success in this endeavor will depend critically on strengthening the institutional capacity, gaining political consensus, building effective infrastructure, as well as developing stronger ties within the region and with the neighbors.

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