By Michel Ange Nga and Brice R. Mbodiam
Cameroon shares the BRICS position that “the world would be a fairer place if the aspirations of all peoples were heard and respected,” Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute said at the closing ceremony of the 15th session, which ended on August 24, 2023, in Johannesburg, South Africa. Like the BRICS, Cameroon is calling for reforms that would ensure the UN and Bretton Woods institutions (World Bank and IMF) are fair and multilateral institutions.
Nevertheless, in the geopolitical tug-of-war between the G7 and the BRICS, Cameroon is not picking a side. Yaounde remains faithful to its non-alignment policy, according to Cameroonian diplomat Christian Pout, in an interview published in the August 24 issue of the state-owned daily Cameroon Tribune. Following that policy, ” the country has done its best to forge links with other countries and diversify its partners, provided they are respectful of its ideals and sovereignty,” explains Christian Pout. This is reflected in the equal weighting of cooperation between Cameroon and the G7 countries, and that between Cameroon and the BRICS countries.
The note on relations between Cameroon, the G7, and the BRICS, published last month by the National Institute of Statistics (INS), shows that the volume of trade between Cameroon and the two competing blocs is relatively the same. We learn that the BRICS countries account for 29% of exports and 29% of imports to and from Cameroon. “The G7, on the other hand, buys 22% of exports and supplies 21% of imports,” reads the note. What’s more, the products most traded between Cameroon and the two groups are virtually identical. On the export side, these are crude oil, sawn timber, petroleum gas, cocoa paste, etc. On the import side, the note cites wheat, refined oil, and rice.
Debt
The equal weighting can also be felt in financial cooperation. The note concludes that 60% of Cameroon’s multilateral debt is owed to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which are both mainly controlled by the G7. On the other hand, 68% of the country’s bilateral debt is owed to BRICS countries. Most of that bilateral debt is owed to China. “China alone currently accounts for 65.5% of total bilateral debt outstanding, far ahead of France (25.3%),” says the INS in its note.
On the military front, Cameroon can also count on partnerships with both BRICS and G7 countries. In March 2018, when President Paul Biya was due for a two-day visit to China, Yaoundé indicated that it had an important military cooperation with China. The cooperation notably covers training and technical assistance. Yaoundé also praises the importance of its military cooperation with Russia. Moscow provides a wide range of assistance to Cameroon’s defense and security forces, including training, internships, and equipment. On April 12, 2022, the two countries even initialed an agreement to expand their military cooperation.
On the other hand, Cameroon and France are linked by an old military cooperation agreement signed on February 21, 1974. This is also presented as important by Yaoundé. In February 2008, the French presidency decided to review its defense agreements with eight African countries (Togo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Gabon and Senegal). Cameroon also has military cooperation agreements with the United States of America. One of the agreements covers training and security in the Gulf of Guinea and Cameroonian coasts. Another agreement was signed in October 2015 to fight the Islamist sect Boko Haram.
According to the INS, Cameroon should continue and densify its cooperation with the two blocs, which are strategic partners.
BRICS and G7 countries accounted for 50% of Cameroon’s imports in 2018-2022 (INS)
Over the 5-year period from 2018 to 2022, the G7, a group of the world’s seven most industrialized countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Great Britain, and the United States), and the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), a geopolitical grouping now presented as a competitor to the G7, cumulatively supplied Cameroon with 50% of its imports.
According to a recent report from the National Insititute of Statistics (INS), these imports cost FCFA 9,672 billion, including FCFA 5,581 billion for imports from the BRICS and 4,091 billion for imports from G7 countries.
“Over the last five years, the BRICS supplied Cameroon with refined petroleum oils worth CFAF581 billion, representing 10% of total imports from the BRICS over the period. It is followed by rice worth CFAF356 billion(6%), wheat worth CFAF329 billion, and medicines worth CFAF275 billion (5%). (…) Products imported from the G7 over the last five years are essentially made up of wheat and meslin, which represents 9% of total imports from the G7 over the period, followed by refined petroleum oils (9%), passenger cars (8%) and medicines (6%),” reads the INS report.
The figures show that Cameroon is heavily dependent on both the BRICS and the G7 for its supplies of food products such as rice and wheat (wheat flour in particular) as well as oil and its by-products. The two blocs supplied Cameroon with CFAF934 billion worth of crude oil over the last five years, with the BRICS supplying a much larger share (CFAF581 billion).
Local production
At the same time, by purchasing FCFA 708 billion worth of wheat from G7 and BRICS countries between 2018 and 2022, Cameroon owes the consumption of bread on its territory solely to these two geopolitical blocs. This is because, despite the promotion of the use of local flour in bread production, wheat flour remains by and large the main component of this staple food in Cameroon. Over the said period, however, G7 countries supplied a slightly higher amount of wheat, worth FCFA 378 billion, according to INS figures.
Rice, one of the most widely consumed cereals in the country, comes mainly from the BRICS. According to INS data, this cereal is the second most imported product from the BRICS over the last five years (behind refined petroleum oils), for an estimated total expenditure of FCFA 356 billion, or 6% of total imports from this bloc.
In order to reduce Cameroon’s heavy dependence on the BRICS and G7, measures are already being taken to “encourage local production of certain cereals such as rice and wheat, which are the main imported agricultural products,” the INS welcomes. It also advocates “large-scale production of local products such as cassava, potatoes, plantains, and corn,” which “are both substitutes for and complements to wheat.”
In addition, “the materialization of initiatives aimed at getting [state-owned oil refinery] Sonara back into operation (the national refining company was ravaged by fire in May 2019) is an opportunity to reduce the petroleum product import bill which weighs heavily on imports from the BRICS and the G7,” the INS adds.