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By Dr. Jean Cédric Kouam,  (Download full Briefing Note)

An Analysis of Women’s Contribution to Economic Growth in Cameroon

Briefing note on the state of business in cameroon


Note : This briefing note was produced as part of the project: Powering Prosperity and Economic Freedom for Women and Youth in Cameroon (PPEF project), which has been implemented since September 2022 by the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Center (SBEC) of the Denis and Lenora Foretia Foundation, with financial support from the Rising Tide and Templeton Foundations. This three-year project aims to build a more robust and diverse middle class, promote economic freedom and empower women and youth.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The objective of this report is to analyze the contribution of women’s employment to economic growth in Cameroon. The study first compares the contributions of value added in the agricultural, industrial and service sectors to economic growth over the period 1991 and 2021. It then forecasts Cameroon’s economic growth between 2023 and 2030. The results indicate that an increase in agricultural value added of ten percentage points in 2021 would have contributed to an increase in economic growth of about two percentage points, compared to 1.98 percentage points for manufacturing value added and 4.15 percentage points for service sector value added.

In terms of economic growth forecasts, it follows that economic growth would approach double digits, as projected in the new national development strategy 2020-2030, if women’s employment in agriculture and services and the proportion of women engaging in formal entrepreneurship increased by 10 percent per year through 2030.

Jean Cedric Kouam is the Deputy Director-Economics Affairs Division and the Head of Fiscal and Monetary Policy Sub-section at the Nkafu policy Institute. He holds a doctorate in economic policy and analysis (monetary and financial macroeconomics) from the University of Dschang in Cameroon.