- (Business in Cameroon) – Cameroon recorded a 50.7 billion FCFA deficit from informal cross-border trade in 2024.
- Smuggling thrives in the Far North and North regions, accounting for over 70% of informal imports.
- The Anglophone crisis in the Southwest region has reduced informal trade flows by 38.7%.
Informal cross-border trade generated a 50.7 billion FCFA ($82.5 million) deficit for Cameroon in 2024, an increase from CFA44.6 billion in 2023, following a peak of CFA71.8 billion in 2022. Data compiled by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) in its 2024 report on informal cross-border trade revealed these figures.
The deficit primarily stems from informal purchases from Nigeria. Cameroon’s trade deficit with Nigeria alone reached CFA111.73 billion in 2024, after a CFA168.04 billion peak in 2022, representing at least double the deficit with all neighboring countries. Public statisticians attribute this structural imbalance to two interconnected factors: “the importance and permeability of the land border with this neighboring country, and the dynamism of the Nigerian economy, accentuated by the decline in its currency—the naira—and the competitiveness of its hydrocarbon offerings.”
Informal imports from neighboring countries, particularly Nigeria, primarily enter Cameroon through the Far North and North regions. Nigeria, a West African economic giant, shares a 1,500-kilometer border with Cameroon. “Products imported primarily transit through the Far North region (49.4% of imports in 2024) and the North region (20.8%), where networks for smuggling fuels, livestock, and manufactured goods thrive,” the INS highlighted. Fuels and lubricants dominate these flows at 22.1%, followed by live animals at 14.6%.
Over 70% of informal trade between Cameroon and neighboring countries, predominantly Nigeria, occurs in the Far North and North regions. This surge persists despite insecurity caused by Boko Haram Islamist militants, who are most active in Cameroon’s Far North.
Conversely, the INS notes that “flows transiting through the Southwest region declined by 38.7%, weakened by the Anglophone crisis.” Imports in the Adamaoua (-17.5%) and East (-3.3%) regions also contracted due to logistical and security challenges, including degraded roads and armed groups. Since late 2016, the Southwest and Northwest regions, bordering Nigeria, have experienced separatist unrest, hindering economic activities. Additionally, armed groups, often originating from the Central African Republic, plague corridors in Cameroon’s East and Adamaoua regions, further impacting trade.
Brice R. Mbodiam
