(Business in Cameroon) – The Cameroonian law enacted in April 2013, revised in 2017, to encourage private investment by offering tax and customs exemptions for 5 to 10 years is no longer favored by the country’s business leaders. Célestin Tawamba, President of the Cameroonian Business Association (Gecam), called for a complete overhaul of the policy during the “Economic Reentry of Business Leaders” event on September 18, 2024, in Douala.
“Investment incentives in Cameroon need a full rethink,” Tawamba stated. Since the law’s implementation in 2014, Cameroon has introduced new public policies and reforms that have impacted investment. These changes, he said, have made many provisions of the law outdated and out of sync with current government strategies.
Tawamba pointed out several flaws in the 2013 law, including confusion over eligibility criteria, which allows for arbitrary decisions and undermines fair treatment of applications. He also noted that the law fails to consider the needs of remote areas, which hampers balanced regional development in line with decentralization goals. Furthermore, some measures do not align with the law’s objectives, leading to significant revenue losses for the state and increased tax pressure on existing businesses.
The Gecam president also criticized the long duration of the installation and operational phases for businesses (5 to 7 years and up to 10 years, respectively) during which tax and customs exemptions are granted. He said some companies misuse these benefits for purposes other than their stated investments or continue to exploit installation-phase advantages even when their projects are already in the operational phase.
Given these shortcomings, Tawamba emphasized the need for a complete revision of the investment incentives law to ensure consistency and greater impact. He added that, according to available data, while CFA198 billion in tax and customs incentives were granted, the wealth created was only CFA41 billion, representing a mere 0.0018% of GDP.
Earlier in February 2023, during the Africa CEO Forum, the late Marthe Angeline Mindja, former Director General of the Investment Promotion Agency (API), revealed that the agency had facilitated the signing of 302 agreements with private sector companies, resulting in CFA5.47 trillion in planned investments and 110,000 projected direct jobs. However, an evaluation of 100 companies between 2014 and 2019 showed that actual investments reached CFA987 billion, creating 12,050 direct jobs.
