Promote:
Invest in Cameroon
A short guide for companies expanding into Cameroon: the economy at a glance, the rules and steps to set up, and who can help, each with its source.
1. Cameroon at a glance
Population
29.9 million
Population was 29,879,337 people in 2025.
Source: World Bank WDI, Cameroon population, 2025 (opens in a new tab) · as of 2025
GDP
US$58.9 billion
GDP was US$58.9 billion in 2025, in current United States dollars.
Source: World Bank WDI, Cameroon GDP, 2025 (opens in a new tab) · as of 2025
GDP per person
US$1,972
GDP per person was US$1,972 in 2025, in current United States dollars.
Source: World Bank WDI, Cameroon GDP per person, 2025 (opens in a new tab) · as of 2025
Real GDP growth
3.2%
Real GDP growth was 3.2 percent in 2025.
Source: World Bank WDI, Cameroon real GDP growth, 2025 (opens in a new tab) · as of 2025
Inflation
3.4%
Consumer prices rose 3.4 percent over twelve months to July 2026, up from 3.0 percent in June.
Source: Cameroon statistics office, inflation note, July 2026 (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of July 2026
Foreign direct investment inflows
US$599 million
Foreign direct investment inflows were US$599 million in 2025.
Source: UNCTADstat, Cameroon FDI inflows, 2025 (opens in a new tab) · as of 2025
The currency is the Central African CFA franc (XAF).
Source: BEAC, home page with indicative exchange rates (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of October 30, 2026
2. Before you set up
The investment agency, any one-stop route, the sectors reserved for nationals and the zones, as the guide found them.
API, the national investment promotion agency, is a public administrative body based in Yaoundé under the Presidency's General Secretariat.
Source: Cameroon Decree 2019/074, investment promotion agency (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of February 18, 2019
Ordinance 2025/002 creates a one-stop shop inside the investment promotion body, with ten working days to review a file; existing bodies handle files until it is set up.
Source: Cameroon Ordinance 2025/002, investment incentives (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of July 18, 2025
As of 2023, per the WTO review, Law 2015/018 reserves mobile and street trading to Cameroonian nationals.
Source: WTO Trade Policy Review of CEMAC, Cameroon annex, 2023 (opens in a new tab) · as of August 16, 2023
As of 2022, per the WTO review, about 38 companies had free zone status, all but three of them as single-site free points.
Source: WTO Trade Policy Review of CEMAC, Cameroon annex, 2023 (opens in a new tab) · as of August 16, 2023
3. Steps to set up
The main steps, in order, each with the body responsible and its official page.
Setting up in Cameroon
- Declare a direct investment from abroad to the central bank and the money ministry at least 30 days before you make it.Banque des États de l'Afrique CentraleOfficial page (opens in a new tab)
Source: CEMAC foreign exchange Regulation 02/18, BEAC copy (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of December 21, 2018
- Register the company through the business creation formalities center, in person or online, to get the trade register number.Centre des Formalités de Création des Entreprises (CFCE)FCFA 41,500 trade register fee; 5 to 8 days for the whole procedure (Douala)Official page (opens in a new tab)
Source: eRegulations Douala, creating a local company (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of October 30, 2026
- Register for tax online to get the unique tax identifier, within 15 working days of starting your activity.Direction Générale des ImpôtsOfficial page (opens in a new tab)
Source: Cameroon tax directorate, tax registration page (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of October 30, 2026
- To get incentives, file your project with the investment agency, whose one-stop shop takes over from the existing approval bodies once it is set up.Agence de Promotion des InvestissementsTen working days to review the file; annual fee of 0.1 percent of the investmentOfficial page (opens in a new tab)
Source: Cameroon Ordinance 2025/002, investment incentives (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of July 18, 2025
Show 2 more set-up steps
- If the agency approves your project, ask its one-stop shop to obtain entry, residence and work visas for your national and foreign staff.Agence de Promotion des InvestissementsOfficial page (opens in a new tab)
Source: Cameroon Ordinance 2025/002, investment incentives (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of July 18, 2025
- To use the free zone regime, apply to the free zone office for approval, inside a free zone or as a single-site free point.Office National des Zones Franches IndustriellesOfficial page (opens in a new tab)
Source: WTO Trade Policy Review of CEMAC, Cameroon annex, 2023 (opens in a new tab) · as of August 16, 2023
4. Organizations that help investors
Start with API. Each card links to the organization’s own site.
Each card says what it can help with:Get adviceFind financeMeet requirementsResearch markets
Investment and business setup
- Get advice
Investment promotion agency
API
Agence de Promotion des Investissements
Receives approval files for the incentive regimes and obtains visas for approved companies' investment programs and foreign staff.
Visit API (opens in a new tab)Source: Cameroon Decree 2019/074, investment promotion agency (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of February 18, 2019
- Get advice
Small business promotion agency
APME
Agence de Promotion des PME
Supports small and medium-sized companies with business creation, entrepreneurship programs, access to financing and investment incentives.
Visit APME (opens in a new tab)Source: Cameroon SME promotion agency, home page (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of October 30, 2026
Show 3 more organizations
- Meet requirements
Central bank
BEAC
Banque des États de l'Afrique Centrale
Regional body
Publishes the CEMAC foreign exchange regulations that govern export proceeds, foreign investment declarations and currency accounts.
Visit BEAC (opens in a new tab)Source: BEAC, home page with indicative exchange rates (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of October 30, 2026
- Get advice
Small business ministry
MINPMEESA
Ministère des Petites et Moyennes Entreprises, de l'Économie Sociale et de l'Artisanat
Runs the eRegulations service that lists the steps, documents and offices for creating a company in Douala, Yaoundé and Garoua.
Visit MINPMEESA (opens in a new tab)Source: Cameroon eRegulations, about page (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of October 30, 2026
Head of state office
Presidency
Présidence de la République du Cameroun
Publishes the investment laws, ordinances and decrees, and the Investment Charter, on its Investir pages.
Visit Presidency (opens in a new tab)Source: Cameroon Presidency, main contacts for investors page (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of October 30, 2026
Customs and tax
- Meet requirements
Tax authority
DGI
Direction Générale des Impôts
Registers taxpayers online, issues the unique tax identifier and runs electronic tax filing.
Visit DGI (opens in a new tab)Source: Cameroon tax directorate, tax registration page (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of October 30, 2026
- Meet requirements
Foreign trade single window
GUCE
GUCE-GIE (Guichet Unique des opérations du commerce extérieur)
Runs the e-FORCE single form, the technical administration systems and the electronic payment of duties and fees for import, export and transit.
Visit GUCE (opens in a new tab)Source: Cameroon single window, about page (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of October 30, 2026
Show 3 more organizations
- Meet requirements
Customs authority
Customs
Direction Générale des Douanes
Applies customs law on foreign trade, collects customs duties and taxes, and compiles foreign trade statistics, under the finance ministry.
Visit Customs (opens in a new tab)Source: Cameroon finance ministry, customs directorate page (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of October 30, 2026
- Get advice
Shippers council
CNCC
Conseil National des Chargeurs du Cameroun
Issues the electronic cargo tracking note, the BESC, for exports and defends shippers' interests along the transport chain.
Visit CNCC (opens in a new tab)Source: Cameroon shippers council, missions page (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of October 30, 2026
- Research markets
Central African economic community
CEMAC
Communauté Économique et Monétaire de l'Afrique Centrale
Regional body
Is the six-country Central African community whose customs code and exchange rules Cameroon applies.
Visit CEMAC (opens in a new tab)Source: CEMAC Commission, home page (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of October 30, 2026
Chambers and industry associations
- Get advice
Chamber of commerce
CCIMA
Chambre de Commerce, d'Industrie, des Mines et de l'Artisanat du Cameroun
Issues certificates of origin for exported products, keeps the consular file of companies and takes members to trade fairs abroad.
Visit CCIMA (opens in a new tab)Source: Cameroon chamber of commerce, missions page (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of October 30, 2026
5. Worth knowing
Logistics and border performance
Since January 2, 2024, the BESC 3.0 application issues the export cargo tracking note, and a submission over 5 days after sailing carries a 200 percent penalty.
What to do: Submit the note within 5 days of the ship's departure, and budget for the note fee.
Sources: Cameroon shippers council, export BESC procedure (in French) (opens in a new tab); Cameroon shippers council, BESC page (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of October 30, 2026
Reserved sectors
Law 2015/018 reserves mobile and street trading to Cameroonian nationals, per the WTO review, and Law 2023/014 reserves artisanal mining to them.
What to do: Confirm with the trade and mines ministries whether your activity is reserved before you register a company.
Sources: WTO Trade Policy Review of CEMAC, Cameroon annex, 2023 (opens in a new tab); Cameroon Mining Code, Law 2023/014 (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of October 30, 2026
Investment incentives
Ordinance 2025/002 limits incentives to listed priority sectors, and excludes upstream oil, mining, gas, trade and distribution.
What to do: Check with the investment agency whether your project is in a listed sector before you build incentives into your project.
Sources: Cameroon Ordinance 2025/002, investment incentives (in French) (opens in a new tab); Cameroon Law 2025/015, ratifying Ordinance 2025/002 (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of October 30, 2026
Free zones
The WTO review says the economic zones law repealed the free zone regime in principle, but zones were slow to start and the old regime still runs by administrative tolerance.
What to do: Ask the free zone office which regime applies to your site before you sign a lease.
Source: WTO Trade Policy Review of CEMAC, Cameroon annex, 2023 (opens in a new tab) · as of October 30, 2026
Show 1 more
Currency and settlement
Foreign direct investment from abroad must be declared to the central bank and the money ministry 30 days before it is made, and 30 days after it is completed.
What to do: Build the declaration period into your project timetable.
Source: CEMAC foreign exchange Regulation 02/18, BEAC copy (in French) (opens in a new tab) · as of October 30, 2026
6. How Promote:Global helps
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- Organize your next stepsKeep each product and market in a project, with a roadmap of steps you work through.
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Promote:Cameroon is an independent guide by Promote:Global, not an official government portal. The organizations named here are independent public and membership bodies, not Promote:Global partners, and every link goes to their own site.
Facts read from public sources, with an editorial cut-off of October 30, 2026. Nothing here is investment, legal, tax or sanctions advice. Check current status with the organization before you rely on it.