Cameroon

Cameroon, the Central African Economic and Monetary Community’s (CEMAC) largest economy and a Fragile and Conflict Affected State (FCS), has established generally sound fiscal policies but faces structural and policy challenges which hamper economic growth. Infrastructure gaps and a shallow financial sector have been identified as the main bottlenecks to growth, aggravated by a large state-owned enterprise sector with weak governance, and regulatory obstacles. While the 2026 budget aims at reversing some of the election-related fiscal slippages in 2025, efforts to raise capital spending for infrastructure face constraints from tight liquidity conditions and the high risk of debt distress. Also, upscaling public investment requires improvements in public investment management (PIM) which suffers from slow and inefficient project planning and implementation. The 2026 Article IV discussions focused on finding the right balance between preserving sustainable fiscal policy while unlocking growth and employment in a fragile environment, heightened by the unrest after the 2025 presidential elections.