Summary
Cameroon’s growth has consistently been below expectations and reflects structural constraints that limit private sector growth, including a shallow financial system, large infrastructure gaps, and weak public investment efficiency. Access to finance and underdeveloped infrastructure are increasingly becoming binding constraints, keeping companies small and productivity low. Using firm-level evidence, cross-country benchmarks, and a panel regression for 88 economies, this Selected Issues Paper (SIP) documents these constraints and finds that, conditional on model and historical cross-country relationships, closing Cameroon’s gap in financial development and infrastructure relative to the sample average is associated with significantly higher long-term income per capita – on the order of 28 percent. It also found that even at current levels, efficiency improvements could yield additional benefits. The SIP outlines priority reforms to deepen financial intermediation, strengthen investment planning and execution, and accelerate infrastructure delivery to support Cameroon’s convergence towards peer economies under the National Development Strategy 2030.
Subject: : economic sector, Expense, financial market infrastructure, financial markets, financial sector, infrastructure, national accounts, public investment expenditure
keyword: : cameroon, credit constraints, economic development, financial intermediation, financial market infrastructure, financial sector, infrastructure, lack of infrastructure, public investment efficiency, public investment expenditure
