(Business in Cameroon) - The statistical engineer believes that one cannot speak of the Cameroonian economy’s competitiveness as long as its production has to compete with junk.

According to the statistical engineer employed to the Ministry of Economy in Cameroon, laying the core of the negotiation with the EU on competitiveness issues is a fragmented approach to the problem.  Mr. Essomba believes that the current move to strengthen our private sector’s capacity before the EPAs only addresses a part of the problem. “In light of some factors germane to Cameroon (poor infrastructure, bad governance, narrow market), the success of such an upgrade programme could only involve a few, very marginal sectors in which Cameroon would be advantageously placed to act.  But this over specialisation would prevent the widening of the productive base and would further our dependency,” he explained.

This would be a major blow for the main negotiators of the agreement for Cameroon who did not forget to present the EU’s granting of 6 billion FCFA to upgrade Cameroonian companies as a victory. In his analysis, Dieudonné Essomba explains that a production system’s competitiveness only matters when the product in question is competing with countries of a very specific market, and based on qualitative and quantitative indicators.  

He believes that the major danger with the EPAs is that European products could flood Cameroon’s market. “The lack of locally produced goods on the market is not due solely to our poor competitiveness, but also due to competition with unconventional supply chains. We can all agree that the junk on the market isn’t from a foreign company competing with local ones, but another reality that obeys totally different mechanisms and require technical, theoretical and therapeutic handling,” he explained.