Cameroon, Central Africa’s biggest economy is proud of its economic potentials and knows very well that its growth and development depend so much on how best these potentials are extracted and put to use. In fact, the first credibility of the nation for economic investment lies in its potentials.

Talk of Cameroon and investment minds will run to minerals, forest, energy and road infrastructure, agriculture and water resources among others. This, in effect, is the force that has been pulling investors including Foreign Direct Investors (FDI) into the country.

 

Reforms

Developments within the last decades whereby the Cameroonian administration has taken bold steps towards facilitating investment in the country appear to be yielding fruits at an almost geometric rate. All that it takes to pull investors into the country has been addressed. The whole issue has to do with instilling a business climate that is conducive and attractive enough for investors. The investment charter which serves as the foundation to foreign investment has been segmented to ease its operation. Hence the putting in place of separate sector codes, notably, the forest sector code in 1994, the petroleum sector code in 1999 and the mining code in 2001. In 2011, government equally adopted the electricity sector code and in 2012 the natural gas code.

Other reforms include the creation of the Cameroon Business Forum which meets under the supervision of the Prime Minister, Head of government and has as aim to strengthen the public-private sector relation by dismantling obstacles to business development; the institution of One-Stop-Shops in the major cities of Douala, Yaounde, Bafoussam, Garoua and Bamenda to simplify and fast-track business registration bringing the time frame down from 30 days to 72 hours, and privatisation of some State owned corporations.

That notwithstanding, the broom of reform has been stretched further with government devising some measures to provide investment and business incentives. In 2012 the finance law reduced the tax burden on certain sectors, notably; pharmaceuticals and renewable energy where Value Added Tax on their products have been eliminated. The Cameroonian legislation also provides incentives to infrastructural projects worth more than  USD 200 million including exemption on  Value Added Tax .

 

Influx

The wave of investors that have been flowing into the country in search of investment surely tells of the attractive nature of the country. Since 2012, numerous trade delegations have visited Cameroon exploring investment opportunities, including delegations from China, Singapore, India, Thailand, Brazil, Turkey, USA, Spain, Russia and Japan. China is emerging as Cameroon’s largest foreign investor, with significant activities in the areas of infrastructure, extractive industries, and energy.

“We see Cameroon as a great partner and a strong member of the 21st century. This is truly a great time for Cameroon and its young, very dynamic, bilingual work force. They speak both English and French. We were very impressed with that.”  This is how Michael Stephen Hoza, the Ambassador of the United States sized up Cameroon as a business partner in an interview. “It is easier to do business in Cameroon than some places in America”, he said. The same line of thought is buttressed by Taha Ozbey, the Project Manager of Medcem Cameroon; the Turkish cement company that will soon go operational in Cameroon. “The choice of Cameroon, he said, is driven by the profit margin compared to what obtains in Turkey where a ton of cement fetches USD 70 as benefit while in Cameroon, the same ton yields USD 180.

The past years have witnessed a medley of countries bringing in investors to Cameroon and accepting to finance a good number of projects in various sectors. Worthy of note are: Spain and Turkey that have expressed the wish to finance the construction of roads, low cost housing, health and energy infrastructure as well as potable water supply. Cognisant of the importance of telecommunication in investment, China’s Huawei is proposing to invest USD 90.1 million (about XAF 49.6 billion) on telecommunication transmission equipment in 166 localities.

Financial institutions have equally demonstrated their willingness to disburse funds for the financing of some major projects in the country. Among them are: the ADB, ADF, IFAD, USEximbank, Deutsche Bank, Caixabank, CBC, Afriland First Bank, BICEC, Eco Bank and SGC.

 

Source: Cameroon Tribune www.cameroon-tribune.cm