On June 23, 2026, Cameroon’s top business leader delivered a stark assessment of the country’s economic trajectory. Célestin Tawamba, President of the GECAM, warned that the nation’s growth rate has plummeted to 3.1% in 2025, down from 3.5% in 2024. This performance falls far short of the 2035 emergence target.

Comparative analysis reveals Cameroon’s growth lags behind regional peers: Sub-Saharan Africa is projected at 4.5%, WAEMU nations at 6.4%, while CEMAC members—of which Cameroon is the largest economy—record just 2.6%.

The petroleum sector collapse explains much of this decline. Hydrocarbon output contracted by -6.9% in 2025 following a -9.7% drop in 2024, confirming oil is no longer Cameroon’s primary growth engine.

286,000 tons

The primary sector offers little relief. Agriculture’s growth plunged from 3.6% to 1.7%, while industrial and export agriculture swung from +8.7% growth in 2024 to -3.2% contraction in 2025. Climate challenges and declining export volumes across multiple sectors compounded these losses.

The cotton industry epitomizes this downturn. Production barely reached 286,000 tons against a 400,000-ton target. Export volumes dropped 24%, while export values crashed by 29.8%.

1.7% to 2%

«Even our strongest sectors show vulnerabilities. The cocoa harvest hit a record 309,518 tons, yet export volumes declined 9% despite an 18% rise in export values due to global price surges. Coffee follows a similar pattern: production increased from 10,562 to 11,637 tons, while export quantities fell 2%. However, revenue rose by 3.9% thanks to higher prices», explains the business federation leader.

Cameroon’s food import dependency continues to rise. Maize imports increased 4.5%, highlighting persistent challenges in achieving national food security. The industrial sector remains sluggish, with growth stuck between 1.7% and 2%, while manufacturing output slowed from 2.9% to 2.2%. Business leaders attribute this stagnation to exorbitant energy costs, logistical bottlenecks, financing constraints, and dwindling competitiveness in the productive sector.