Description:
The poor state of Cameroon's
infrastructure is a key bottleneck to the nation's
economic growth. From 2000 to 2005, improvements in
information and communications technology (ICT) boosted
Cameroon's growth performance by 1.26 percentage points
per capita, while deficient power infrastructure held growth
back by 0.28 points per capita. If Cameroon could improve
its infrastructure to the level of Africa's
middle-income countries, it could raise its per capita
economic growth rate by about 3.3 percentage points.
Cameroon has made significant progress in many aspects of
infrastructure, implementing institutional reforms across a
broad range of sectors with a view to attracting
private-sector participation and finance, which has
generally led to performance improvements. But the country
still faces a number of important infrastructure challenges,
including poor road quality, expensive and unreliable
electricity, and a stagnating and uncompetitive ICT sector.
Cameroon currently spends around $930 million per year on
infrastructure, with $586 million lost to inefficiencies.
Removing those inefficiencies would leave an infrastructure
funding gap of $350 million per year. Given Cameroon's
relatively strong economy and natural-resource base, as well
as its success in attracting private financing, the country
should be able to close that gap and meet its infrastructure
goals within 13 years.