Cameroon, an economically strategic country in Central Africa, is facing major economic challenges, according to Célestin Tawamba, president of the Cameroon Business Group (GECAM).
In a recent statement, Tawamba highlighted that Cameroon's economic growth fell to 3.1% in 2025, down from 3.5% in 2024, a pace that, in his view, is incompatible with the emergence targets set for 2035.
This slowdown is especially worrisome given that sub‑Saharan Africa is expected to record an average growth of 4.5% over the same period, while the UEMOA region would reach 6.4%, compared with only 2.6% for the CEMAC bloc, of which Cameroon is the largest economy.
One of the main drivers of this under‑performance is the collapse of the oil sector, which contracted by 6.9% in 2025 after an already steep decline of 9.7% in 2024.
Other sectors offer little reassurance. The primary sector saw its growth fall from 3.6% to 1.7% in a year, while industrial and export agriculture swung from +8.7% in 2024 to -3.2% in 2025, mainly due to climate difficulties and reduced exports.
Cotton, a symbol of this deterioration, saw production drop to 286,000 tonnes, far short of the 400,000‑tonne target, with export volumes down 24% and export value down 29.8%.
Even the best‑performing chains, such as cocoa production, which hit a record 309,518 tonnes, reveal certain fragilities, underscoring the need for a more diversified and resilient economic strategy to meet current and future challenges.
