“(Business in Cameroon) - Despite exogenous shocks and the security crisis, Cameroon’s economy recorded an estimated growth of 4.1% in 2019, thanks to the dynamism of the tertiary sector and growth in consumption and investment,” the African Development Bank (AfDB) reports in the 2020 African Economic Outlook.

However, the AfDB states, this “economic growth (...) has not been inclusive enough to develop human capital.” This means that despite growth of the Cameroonian economy in 2019, the improvement has not been felt in the daily lives of the population.

Indeed, the development bank explains, “ in terms of human development, the results are mediocre and Cameroon is ranked 151^st in the world (21^st in Africa) in the 2018 Human Development Index. The poverty rate has declined moderately, from 39.9% in 2007 to 37.5% in 2014), but the current pace will not allow achievement of two of the objectives of the Growth and Employment Strategy Paper: underemployment of the labour force falling from 76% to 50% and a poverty rate of 28.7% in 2020.”

BRM