Investment activity among companies operating in Cameroon remained strong in 2024. Spending on the acquisition of equipment, software, financial assets, and other items rose by 28.5%, compared with an increase of 8.8% in 2023, according to the report on the “economic and financial situation of companies in 2024,” published on January 21, 2026, by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).
The INS notes, however, that companies are increasingly prioritizing intangible investments over physical ones. The investment momentum recorded in 2024 was “marked by a reorientation of corporate investment strategies, increasingly focused on the acquisition of financial assets at the expense of physical equipment,” the national statistics office said.
In practical terms, companies are now favoring operations such as equity purchases, subscriptions to public offerings, private placements, and similar transactions, rather than acquiring equipment aimed at strengthening production capacity. This trend helps explain the strong activity of asset management firms, the buoyancy of the Treasury securities market overseen by the Bank of Central African States (BEAC), and the success of fundraising operations conducted on the Douala Stock Exchange by CEMAC states as well as by companies and regional institutions.
This shift in corporate investment strategy is not without consequences for production capacity. In 2024, “the production base of companies deteriorated slightly, with the aging rate of fixed assets rising to 60.6%, from 60.3% the previous year,” the INS said. In other words, production assets have lost nearly six-tenths of their initial value, due mainly to wear and obsolescence.
BRM
