Investors fleeing Cameroon to other CEMAC countries-UN report.

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD, rather than Cameroon, generally perceived as the economic powerhouse of the CEMAC sub region, foreign investors are shifting to Gabon and even Chad, as preferred places to put their money.

In the 2024 UNCTAD report made public on June 20, the UN body revealed that Gabon and Chad have pushed Cameroon from the first position Yaounde previously occupied in terms of attracting Foreign Direct Investments, to the third position, among the six member states of CEMAC.

Specifically, the UNCTAD report showed that Cameroon attracted a modest 799 million United States Dollars, USD, in Foreign Direct Investment, in 2023, which translates to about 490 billion FCFA at the current exchange rate.

While UNCTAD data from 2018 to 2023 shows a 15.87% decrease in FDI for Cameroon compared to 2022, when the country received 926 million USD; which is about 567.8 billion FCFA. 

This drastic drop, observers say can be attributed to a slowdown in the execution of infrastructure projects following the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations which Yaounde hosted.

On the same vein, in 2023, the report unveiled that Cameroon recorded its lowest FDI since 2020, a year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted investments all-round the globe. 

After the pandemic, the UN body stated that FDI in Cameroon increased, reaching 964 million USD; which amounts to approximately 591.5 billion FCFA in 2021 and 926 million USD; which is about 567.8 billion FCFA in 2022.

Whereas, within the CEMAC sub region, made up of Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, and the Central African Republic, CAR, Cameroon ranked third for FDI in 2023, behind Gabon and Chad. 

“While FDI in Cameroon decreased, Gabon saw an increase of 46 million USD, and Chad experienced a surge of nearly 300 million USD”, UNCTAD disclosed.

In detail, the assessor showed that Gabon received a whopping 1.15 billion USD; which is about 706.3 billion FCFA in FDI in 2023, up from 678 billion FCFA in 2022. 

Chad's FDI rose from 614 million USD; which amounts to some 376.8 billion FCFA in 2022 to 913 million USD; equivalent to some 560.3 billion FCFA in 2023.

In summary, the UNCTAD is alerting the Yaounde authorities to sit up before some smaller nation in the CEMAC sub region snatches the leadership as sub regional economic powerhouse.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue N0:3155 of Monday July 01, 2024