|
1
- Political Status
The Republic
of Cameroon has a multiparty presidential
regime.
The National
Assembly, the legislative power, is made
up of 180 deputies from 4 parties
The country is divided administratively
into 10 provinces and 52
departments.
The president is
elected for a five year term of office by
general election.
The present
President is Mr Paul Biya (in power since
30th November 1982).
He was elected the first time on 14th
January 1984, re-elected 24th April 1989
and 11th October 1992. (Elections are
imminent).
The Prime Minister
is Mr Peter Mafany Musonge (since 19th
September 1996).
The 108 members of
the National Assembly are also elected for
5 years by universal suffrage.
A Senate was created when the constitution
was revised on 10th January
1996.
The main opposition
party in the National Assembly is the UNDP
(National Union for Democracy and
Progress).
Mr Maigari Bello Bouba leads this
parliamentary group of 68 deputies.
Other political parties are the SDF
(Social Democratic Front) led by John Fru
Ndi, the UPC
(People's Union of Cameroon) and the PDC
(Party of Democrats of
Cameroon).
External affairs :
the conflict which opposes Cameroon and
Nigeria concerning the sovereignty of the
Bakassi peninsula is still not resolved,
in spite of the first conclusions of the
Court of International Justice of the
Hague in favour of Cameroon and the desire
of the Nigerian president to calm down the
tension.
The country's
national anthem is 'O Cameroun de nos
ancêtres' (O Cameroon of our
ancestors).
Historical
outline :
The independence of the Republic of
Cameroon was proclaimed on 1st January
1960, at the same time as the British
Cameroons separated, the northern region
being attached to Nigeria and the southern
to Cameroon.
4th November 1982 : President Ahidjo, who
was in power since independence,
resigned.
He was replaced by his minister Paul
Biya.
28th February 1984 President Biya is
re-elected and President Ahidjo is
condemned to death by the Military Tribune
of Yaounde.
5th December 1990 : a law instituting
mult-partism is voted in Parliament
9th April 1992 : Mr Simon Achidi Achu is
named Prime Minister, replacing Mr
Hayatou
23rd October 1992 : re-election of
President Biya
May 1993 : national debate concerning the
revision of the constitution
11th January 1994 : the Franc CFA is
devalued by 50%
The country's
National Defence force is 8,000 men.
Cameroon is a member of the OUA, the CEEAC
: the economic community of the African
states, the UDEAC : the customs union of
Central Africa, as well as the
organization of the river states of Lake
Chad.
2
- Geographical
situation
Cameroon has a total
surface area of 475,442 square kilometers
and a population density of 31 inhabitants
per sq.km.. It has a coast line 402 kms
long on the Gulf of Guinea.
It is surrounded by
six countries : Nigeria, Chad, the Central
African Republic, the Congo, Gabon and
Equatorial Guinea.
Geographical relief
: a coastal plain in the south, low
plateaus and volcanoes in the south west
and the west, the plateau of Adamaoua in
the centre, the plains of Benoue et Logone
in the north and the Mandara mountains in
the north west.
The culminating point is Mt Cameroon (4070
m).
The vegetation is
thicker in the south, more sparse in the
west. In the north there are steppe
lands.
3
- Economy & statistics
Under pressure from the World Bank,
Cameroon started up a programme of reforms
(named as the most corrupt State in the
world by NGO Transparency International in
1998 and 1999) and privatizations.
The severe efforts made over the last
three years have paid off.
Yaoune has finally managed, after 4
repeated failures, to carry out the
structural change programme signed in
August 1997 with the Bretton Woods
institutions.
After a period of
relative decline, the Cameroonian economy
could get back on its feet again after the
devaluation of the Franc CFA, which
boosted exports and improved the liquidity
in financial circuits. Exports went up 30%
in volume.
The adopted strategy could be resumed thus
:
1-reduction in spending
2-growth of revenues
3-improvement of relations with bilateral
and multilateral partners.
The different efforts to increase the
State revenues was led by a more
systematic tax collection, the abolishing
of preferential regimes of various
exonerations and the rise of the tax on
turnover.
The agricultural
economy employs three quarters of the
population and represents 40% of the GDP,
supplying nearly 60% of the export
value.
Black Africa is the
zone with the highest debt of all the
third world, with a total debt of 223
billion dollars. The external debt of
Cameroon totals nearly 2,000 billion
FCFA.
The Cameroon
government has made the lightening of the
debt one of their priorities : reducing
the volume of civil servants, privatizing
public companies et restructuring the
financial sector.
In October 2000 Cameroon became the
eleventh country to profit from the
multilateral intitiative, called PPTE
(Poor country with huge debts).
A debt of 15.2 billion francs was wiped
out, equal to 27% of the total money owed,
bringing the part of the public revenue
spent on the debt charge from 23% to
12%.
Paul Biya considers this as a "historical
success".
A new loan of 177
million francs was allocated by the IMF to
reduce poverty, more than half the
population survives with less than a
dollar a day.
The country has
several natural assets, a series of local
well developed companies and lives from
its exports. Several industrial units
continue to be created, in particular in
wood processing.
Certain growth forecasts for 2001 are over
the 6%-7% level, because of the
acceleration in investment.
GNP 1998 : 96th/226
GNP per capita 1998 : 172th/226
Purchasing power parity : 1 395
dollars ( 229% du GNP per
capita)
Economy
(in billions
of dollars, except GNP per capita in
dollars)
|
|
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
France98
|
|
Gross
National Product
|
8.52
|
8.51
|
8.23
|
8.22
|
1429.58
|
|
GNP
per capita
|
620
|
620
|
610
|
560
|
24210
|
|
growth
of volume of GDP
|
5.0%
|
5.1%
|
5.0%
|
3.9%
|
3.2%
|
|
aid
(+ or -)
|
0.481
|
0.431
|
0.301
|
-
|
-8.402
|
|
external
debt
|
7.410
|
7.827
|
7.723
|
-
|
-
|
|
rate
of inflation
|
4.7%
|
1.1%
|
0.1%
|
0.5%
|
0.7%
|
|
rate
of interest
|
5.38%
|
5.04%
|
5.00%
|
5.00%
|
3.21%
|
|
tourist
revenues
|
0.038
|
0.039
|
0.040
|
-
|
29.931
|
|
foreign
investment
|
0.035
|
0.045
|
0.050
|
-
|
27.998
|
|
rate
of the US dollar
|
511.55
|
583.67
|
589.95
|
615.70
|
5.90
|
(Source:
Atlas éco
2001)
External
trade
(in billions
of dollars)
|
|
1995
|
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
France98
|
|
exports
|
2.045
|
2.048
|
2.306
|
2.306
|
387.123
|
|
imports
|
-1.646
|
-1.867
|
-2.041
|
-2.176
|
-342.244
|
|
balance
of payments
|
0.09
|
-0.375
|
-0.258
|
-0.235
|
40.161
|
(Source:
Atlas éco 2002)
Division
of GDP by activity sector
Agriculture
: 42.4%
Industry : 10.7%
Mining : 10.9%
Services : 36.0%
4
- Agriculture
Blessed with a favourable climate Cameroon
is one of the best provided for countries
of the subsaharian region.
There are two types
of agriculatural exploitation carried out
: peasant farming using family as labour
and capitalistic farms belonging to
private companies.
The country largely
survives due to its production of sorghum.
Commercial crops are cocoa, coffee,
bananas and pineapple.
In the north, from
Lake Chad to the Benoue basin, millet is
the basic crop, followed by maize,
peanuts, gombo, beans and rice.
In the Adamaoua
region, manyoc, sorghum, maize and bananas
are grown.
In the highlands in the west are grown
maize, root vegetables and bananas.
In the capitalist farms are grown
oleaginous plants, like oil palms,
peanuts, tropical fruit like bananas and
pineapple, cotton, hevea, tobacco, sugar
cane and rice.
Stockbreeding is done on the Adamaoua
savannahs.
The extreme north is modernizing.
Sheep and goods are raised mostly in the
extreem north of the country, while pigs
are raised along the coast and in the
west.
Agricultural stockbreeding totals over 30
million chicken raised in specialized
batteries.
80,000 tons of fish
were fished in 1993.
Fishing is concentrated in Douala with a
maritime industry using trawlers and
shrimp boats.
Timber production is
very good. 14.6 million cubic metets can
be cut every year.
Unfortunately the lumber industry has
strong competition from Asian
countries.
Agriculture
(livestock
in millions of head, timber in millions of
m3, other products in millions of
tons)
|
|
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
rating
|
|
Rating of
agricultural
production
|
120.0
|
117.2
|
119.2
|
122.2
|
-
|
|
wood
|
15.280
|
15.122
|
15.172
|
-
|
-
|
|
cocoa
|
0.126
|
0.127
|
0.149
|
0.150
|
5
|
|
coffee
|
0.053
|
0.053
|
0.069
|
0.062
|
22
|
|
sugar
cane
|
1.350
|
1.350
|
1.350
|
1.350
|
-
|
|
cotton
|
0.079
|
0.075
|
0.075
|
-
|
23
|
|
maize
|
0.750
|
0.600
|
0.550
|
0.600
|
-
|
|
millet
|
0.071
|
0.071
|
0.071
|
0.071
|
22
|
|
potatoes
|
0.035
|
0.038
|
0.042
|
0.049
|
-
|
|
rice
|
0.054
|
0.065
|
0.065
|
0.065
|
-
|
|
tea
|
0.004
|
0.004
|
0.004
|
0.004
|
25
|
|
cattle
|
5.550
|
5.700
|
5.900
|
5.900
|
-
|
|
sheep
|
3.820
|
3.840
|
3.860
|
3.880
|
-
|
|
pigs
|
1.415
|
1.420
|
1.425
|
1.430
|
-
|
|
fishing
|
0.087
|
0.089
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(Source:
Atlas éco
2002)
5
- Industries & mining
Cameroon is
a country rich in minerals and
industry.
Its main mining production is based on
petrol, and since 1993 also on natural
gas.
In 1993 the mines employed 2% of the
working population.
The exploitation represented 12% of the
GNP.
|
International
Corporate Services Provider
SET
UP AN OFFSHORE COMPANY IN
SEYCHELLES