The World Bank in Cameroon

About

Cameroon is a lower-middle-income country with a population of over 28.37 million (2023). Located along the Atlantic Ocean, it shares borders with the Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Nigeria. Cameroon is endowed with rich natural resources, including oil and gas, mineral ores, and high-value species of timber and agricultural products, such as coffee, cotton, cocoa, maize, and cassava.

Political Context

Presidential and regional council elections are scheduled for October and December 2025. On August 5, the Constitutional Council of Cameroon validated twelve candidacies for the presidential election scheduled for October 12, 2025, including the candidacy of current President Paul Biya will be seeking an eight term. 

Having enjoyed several decades of stability, Cameroon has in recent years been grappling with attacks by Boko Haram in the Far North and a secessionist insurgency in the Anglophone regions. Since September 2017, this situation has displaced more than one million people internally and around 431,530 refugees have sought shelter in Cameroon. Following the resurgence of the crisis in the Central African Republic since January 2021, over 6,000 Central Africans refugees fled to Cameroon’s East region which was already hosting over 67 % of Central African refugees. According to the UNHCR, as of March 2025, Cameroon is hosting over 431,530 refugees, primarily from the Central African Republic (67%) and Nigeria (29%) and other nationalities (4%).

Social Context

Poverty reduction in Cameroon has stagnated over the past 20 years, with approximately 4 in 10 Cameroonians living below the national poverty line. The household survey data from 2021-2022 suggests that 23.0% of the population lives below the extreme international poverty line.

Economy

Economic Overview

Cameroon’s real GDP grew by 3.5% in 2024, up from 3.2% in 2023, supported by better cocoa prices, higher cotton yields, and improved electricity for industry. However, average growth from 2021 to 2024 was just 3.4%, well below the 6.6% target set by the National Development Strategy due to infrastructure gaps, weak governance, low investment, and internal conflicts. GDP per capita in 2024 reached USD 1,467, surpassing pre-pandemic levels but not yet matching the 1986 high of USD 1,980. Growth is expected to gradually improve, provided industrial power supply and public investment increase. Inflation fell from 7.4% in December 2023 to 4.5% by end-2024 and 4.1% mid-2025, and is projected to reach 3% by 2027, thanks to tighter monetary policy and lower imported costs.

Despite weaker oil production, the current account deficit narrowed from 4.1 to 3.2 percent of GDP between 2023 and 2024, reflecting stronger agricultural exports and softer imports. The ratio of goods exports to GDP increased to 13.2 percent in 2024, up from 12.9 percent the previous year. However, this short-term improvement conceals a long-term decline in goods exports from 19.1 percent of GDP in 2012 due to internal crises, ongoing decline in hydrocarbon production, productivity constraints, and trade barriers among others. Over the past two decades, Cameroon's economy has seen a decline in the complexity of its export items, as evidenced by its drop from the 94th to the 120th position on the Economic Complexity Index (ECI).

As of end-2024, Cameroon’s general government debt reached 43.4% of GDP, up from 42.3% the prior year, with external and domestic debt at 29.0% and 14.4% of GDP, respectively. While Cameroon’s external debt stock indicators are below the sustainability threshold, its external debt service indicators - debt service-to-exports ratio and debt service-to-revenue ratio - remain above the threshold but on a downward trend.

Last Updated: Oct 07, 2025

Country Partnership

This Country Partnership Framework (CPF) presents the World Bank Group’s (WBG) strategy to support Cameroon’s Vision 2035 of becoming an emerging country, democratic and united in its diversity. As the largest economy of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), Cameroon is central to the WBG’s global mission to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity on a livable planet. A country with vast natural resources, a relatively well-educated workforce, and centrally positioned within the region, Cameroon has the potential, if it embarks on an ambitious reform path, to transition to a high value, green, job-creating economy drawing on a more productive rural sector and a diverse and dynamic urban private sector. The FY25-FY29 CPF presents a program to lay the foundations for an inclusive economic transformation within a context of fragility, conflict, and violence amidst the growing impacts of climate change. Addressing the drivers of fragility and conflict is at the core of the program, which aims to continue supporting the Government of Cameroon (GoC)’s Prevention and Resilience Strategy, approved in October 2021. More broadly, the CPF supports the goals of the NDS30, notably structural transformation of the economy, drawing on key WBG strategic, financial, and analytical inputs.1 This CPF also embraces key dimensions of the WBG Evolution Roadmap, with a focus on climate and fragility, mobilizing private capital, and achieving results at scale. The program is selective, with a deliberate focus on sectors that bring together all three parts of the WBG (and other partners) to crowd in private finance whenever possible, aiming to help Cameroon make tangible and measurable progress on a few development challenges.

Last Updated: Oct 07, 2025

Development

Boosting Electricity Production

The target is to contribute to M300 objectives with about 6.8million new people with access to electricity. A new MPA is under preparation to further support the sector increase generation capacity through private sector participation, finance ENEO recovery plan and scale up access to electricity towards universal access by 2030.

Enhancing Regional Trade and Integration

The Lake Chad Region Recovery and Development Project ($60 million IDA) seeks to strengthen regional cooperation and address subregion challenges that foment terrorism and insecurity

Improving Agricultural Competitiveness

WB engagement in the agricultural sector comprises two IDA-financed operations. The Acceleration of the Digital Transformation of Cameroon Project supports establishing a more enabling environment for the development of a digital economy and the reduction of digital divides in rural areas.

Moving towards a permanent social protection system

The Social Safety Net project ($100 million IDA) has helped more than 385,000 poor households improve their well-being. With the new Adaptive Safety Net & Economic Inclusion Project ($160 million IDA) more than 60,000 young people will be trained in entrepreneurship.

Supporting the decentralization process

The new Local Governance and Resilient Communities Project ($300 million IDA) aims to enhance communities’ participation in local planning and governance and build the capacity of decentralized local authorities to manage resources and implement public investments.

Improving the Quality and Efficiency of the Education System

The Cameroon Education Support Project ($175 million IDA) has reduced the textbook to pupil ratio from 1:17 (prior to 2017) to one package of essential textbooks (French, English, and Mathematics) for 2 pupils in 2022.

The $125 million Secondary Education and Skills Development Project aims to increase equitable access to quality secondary education and market-relevant technical and vocational training.

Last Updated: Oct 07, 2025