(Business in Cameroon) - From XAF154,000 in 2008, the highest monthly pension in Cameroon reached XAF409,100 this year, national social security fund CNPS indicates.

According to the fund, this is the result of a presidential decree of February 15, 2016, authorizing the increase of the rate of social contributions from 7% to 8.4% in Cameroon. The decree also raised the contribution limit from XAF300,000 to XAF750,000. This led to a substantial rise in retirement pensions.

Before the said reform, a pension of XAF90,000 was paid for 15 years of activities while those who have been active for 30 years were entitled to XAF150,000. In the past, the average pension was XAF67,000.

According to figures published by the CNPS, 65,362 new insured persons were recorded under the mandatory scheme in 2018. Compared with the 60,196 new insured in 2017, this represents an 8.6% rise. 67.57% of those new insured are men and 73.41% are U-35. Overall, there are 780,745 active workers under the mandatory scheme. Sectors like "others" (32.5%), "trade" (12.63%) and "agriculture" (10.36%) have the largest number of socially insured workers.

As far as the voluntary insured scheme established in 2014 is concerned, 16, 216 new subscribers were recorded in 2018. 59% are men and 79% are U-35. Overall, there are 134,883 subscribers under that scheme.

S.A