Gross Domestic Product 2012

GDP (purchasing power parity): $50.32 billion (2012 est.)

GDP real growth rate: 4.7%

GDP per capita (PPP): $2,300

GDP composition by sector

Agriculture: 19.8%

Industry: 30.9%

Services: 49.3%

Inflation: 3% June 2013

Currency: Central African CFA franc

Business Languages

The commercial languages include the following

• English
• French

Transport

Cameroon has an estimated 987 kilometers of 1000 mm gauge track operated by Camrail, a subsidiary of French investment group Bolloré. There are no rail links with neighbouring countries.

Cameroon has highways of about 50,000 kilometer of which 5,000 kilometers are paved.

Cameroon lies at a key point in the Trans-African Highway network, with three routes crossing its territory:

• Dakar-N’Djamena Highway, connecting just over the Cameroon border with the N’Djamena-Djibouti Highway
• Lagos-Mombasa Highway
• Tripoli-Cape Town Highway

Waterways, navigation is mainly on the Benue River and is limited during rainy season.

Seaports and harbors, of the operating maritime ports in Cameroon, Douala is the busiest and most important. Lesser ports include Kribi, used chiefly for the export of wood, and Limbé, used only for palm-oil exports. Garoua, on the Benoué River, is the main river port, but it is active only from July to September.

The main international airport is the Douala International Airport. Secondary international airports are at Yaoundé and Garoua

Energy in Cameroon

Cameroons’s energy sources consist primarily of electricity, fuel wood, solar, wind, biomass and geothermal among others

Challenges in Cameroon

• Lack of water, energy, transport and telecommunication infrastructures
• Cameroon has an unemployment rate between 40-50%
• Poverty with about 50 to 55% of the total population living below poverty line
• Cameroon has a literacy rate of about 68% percent
• Volcanic activity with periodic releases of poisonous gases from Lake Nyos and Lake Monoun volcanoes
• Deforestation
• Overgrazing
• Desertification
• Poaching
• Over-fishing
• Poor sanitation
• Lack of good drinking water and water for domestic purposes
• High corruption levels