Business

According to the 2016 edition of the logistics performance index published on 28th June by the World Bank, Cameroon is among the least performing countries in Africa as well as worldwide. At the continental level, we learn, the country is 40th out of 46 African countries ranked. On the global level, Cameroon is 148th out of 160.

In the Cemac area, the country presented as the economic engine of this community, is outranked in this report from the World Bank by Congo, Gabon and Chad. In the top 10 of this ranking in Africa, we can find South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, Botswana, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Namibia and Burkina Faso.  

The logistics performance index of the World Bank takes into account criteria such as the efficiency of clearing procedures, the quality of infrastructure or the respect of delivery times. This indicator, we learn, is based on an international survey of 1,000 logistics professionals (forwarding agents and transporters), as well as on quantitative data on the performance of the main components of the supply chain (terms, costs, import and export procedures...).

BRM

Details

Rita Akana

04.Jul.2016

Hits: 1995

Write comment (0 Comments)

Details

Rita Akana

04.Jul.2016

Hits: 1711

Write comment (0 Comments)

Out of the USD 86.9 billion (FCfa 47,795 billion) in loans granted by China to African States, banks and companies over the 2000-2014 period, Cameroon received a global envelope of USD 2.8 billion, equivalent to approximately FCfa 1,540 billion, as revealed by a study entitled “China Africa Research Initiative (CARI)”, published in mid-June by the American university John Hopkins.

At the continental level, Cameroon is the 9^th top destination for Chinese during the period under consideration. The country comes far behind Angola with USD 21.20 billion, Ethiopia (USD 12.3 billion), Sudan (USD 5.58 billion), Kenya (USD 5.19 billion), the Democratic Republic of Congo (USD 4.91 billion), Congo (USD 3.7 billion), Nigeria (USD 3.5 billion) and Ghana (USD 3.1 billion).  

Statistics compiled as part of this study moreover reveal that for 2012 only, Cameroon borrowed USD 1.5 billion (FCfa 825 billion) from China. This amount represents more than half of the Chinese loans envelope in favour of Cameroon for the period under review, and close to three times the debt (FCfa 311 billion) contracted in China in 2011.

Upon observation, it was during the 2011-2012 period that China released approximately 80% of its loans to Cameroon. Which is all the more understandable considering that this period corresponds to the launch of large infrastructure projects in Cameroon (Lom Pangar and Memvé’élé dams, deep water port of Kribi, etc.); projects which were all financed in majority by Exim Bank of China and undertaken by Chinese companies.

BIC

Details

Rita Akana

01.Jul.2016

Hits: 1607

Write comment (0 Comments)

Since the end of March, it has been difficult for populations in the Adamaoua region, located in northern Cameroon, to consume pork. According to the pro-government daily who revealed this information, this situation follows the discovery of a swine fever outbreak in the Mbé district.

Therefore, the administrative authorities had to take measures to restrict the sale of pork, measures which today impact on the whole Adamaoua region, we learn.  

According to livestock breeders in this part of Cameroon, pork could soon become a rare commodity on markets in southern Cameroon, with cargo coming from the three northern regions incapable of going through the veterinarian checkpoints set up since the discovery of swine fever outbreaks in March in the Mbé district.

Details

Rita Akana

30.Jun.2016

Hits: 1639

Write comment (0 Comments)

In September, Cameroonian Hope Sona Ebai will be among the three candidates to the position of Executive Director of the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO). He revealed himself his candidacy during a meeting granted to him by the Minister of External Relations, Lejeune Mbella Mbella, from whom he requested the support of the Cameroonian public authorities and to discuss his future election campaign strategy.

Former Managing Director of the National Cocoa and Coffee Council (ONCC), Hope Sona Ebai has close to 30 years of experience in the cocoa economy in Cameroon, in Africa and in the world. After ONCC which he managed for 7 years, this grandson of a cocoa producer occupied, during 11 years, the function of General Secretary of the Alliance of Cocoa Producing Countries, which represents 75% of the world cocoa beans production.

From this position in Copal, Hope Sona Ebai, a native of the South-West region of Cameroon, was the major force behind the organisation of the Summits of Heads of State of African cocoa producing countries in Abuja in 2006, and Accra in 2007. He is also credited with the organisation of four international conferences on cocoa research.

Since his departure from Copal, he found a new home at the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), an international organisation formed by the 100 biggest companies in the cocoa industry worldwide, and of which a main financer is American billionaire Bill Gates through his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Within this organisation representing 80% of the world cocoa industry, Hope Sona Ebai, a graduate in Economy from the Ohio State University, USA, steers the African Cocoa Initiative (ACI). Implemented in Cameroon, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria, this programme with a budget of approximately FCfa 7.5 billion over 5 years, seeks to establish as institutions efficient models to support the sustainable growth of the productivity and the improvement of food security in cocoa farms.

Among the accomplishments of the African Cocoa Initiative in Cameroon, we can cite support to the financing of the New Generation programme devised by the Cocoa and Coffee Inter-professional Council (CICC), which is meant to bring down the average age for producers and cocoa farms alike in the country; and funding for the implementation of a 15 hectares plant nursery, with the support of the Agricultural Research Institute for Development (IRAD).

Details

Rita Akana

29.Jun.2016

Hits: 2412

Write comment (0 Comments)

Since the discovery, at the end of May 2016, of an outbreak of bird flu in the Mvog-Betsi poultry farm complex in Yaoundé, the 4^th hatchery in Cameroon, whose virus H5N1 has decimated 75% of flocks and caused the destruction of the rest of production; the national poultry industry has already lost around FCfa 10 billion.

This figure was revealed on 20^th June 2016 in Yaoundé by François Djonou, President of the Poultry Inter-profession of Cameroon (Ipavic). It was during a meeting of poultry sector operators with the Committee of competitiveness, a body placed under the authority of the Ministry of Economy.

These losses are especially plausible since for one month, the trade in poultry is officially forbidden in the Cameroonian capital, principal transit area for exports to neighbouring countries such as Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. The latter has moreover forbidden imports of Cameroonian poultry to its territory as soon as the bird flu outbreak was discovered in Yaoundé. 

This ban on poultry trade in the capital was extended from 3^rd June 2016 to the towns of Bafoussam and Bayangam, both located in the Western region, which alone accounts for about 80% in national poultry production, according to operator statistics.

Indeed, experts in the sector claim, the Western region in Cameroon produces about 300,000 chicks on daily basis which had to be slaughtered for the past three weeks to avoid additional costs to hatcheries (feed, veterinary products, etc) due to the market paralysis.

Western Cameroon also represents 500,000 tons of maize (for a value of around FCfa 110 billion) consumed annually, of which a good part by the producers of feed; and about FCfa 8 billion of expenses annually for veterinary products used in breeding. All figures that have been affected these last weeks, due to the appearance of bird flu in the large basin of chicken production.

BIC

Details

Rita Akana

25.Jun.2016

Hits: 2080

Write comment (0 Comments)