Cameroon is seeking to attract more domestic and foreign investors. In Yaoundé, the Investment Promotion Agency (API) organized an awareness workshop on May 8, 2026, focusing on mechanisms aimed at encouraging private investment. At the center of discussions were Law No. 2013/004 of April 18, 2013, new government reforms, and incentives granted to businesses to boost the national economy.
Faced with growing economic competition among African countries, Cameroon is strengthening its attractiveness to investors. To this end, the Investment Promotion Agency (API) is highlighting measures designed to encourage productive investments, which have already led to the signing of nearly 400 agreements since the implementation of Law No. 2013/004 on private investment incentives. This legislation provides approved companies with various administrative, fiscal, and customs benefits, including VAT exemptions, reductions in customs duties, tax relief during installation and operational phases, as well as facilitation through the one-stop investment service center. Priority sectors targeted include agro-industry, mining, energy, digital technology, tourism, and infrastructure, all considered key drivers of growth and competitiveness for the country.
“These specific sectors are very strategic sectors on which government is putting a lot of insistence on trying to develop investments in this sector, attracting foreign direct investments in this sector. So it was just normal that these sectors be identified, which was not what was in the past.
BOMA DONATUS, Director General of the Cameroon Investment Promotion Agency (API) – Cameroon
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According to the Ministry of Economy, Cameroon aims to become an industrial and logistics hub in Central Africa through its National Development Strategy 2020–2030. Within this framework, the Investment Promotion Agency (API) organized an awareness workshop in Yaoundé on Friday, May 8, 2026, to present adjustments introduced by the new ordinance aimed at improving the investment framework, particularly by reducing administrative delays, providing greater security for investors, and strengthening the business climate. In 2025, the API signed 70 investment agreements worth a total of 7.4 trillion CFA francs, with the promise of creating 350,000 direct jobs, thereby confirming its role as a key catalyst for the country’s growth and competitiveness.
“And this ordinance is very innovative in our ordinance in the sense that it harmonizes our national development strategy with the ordinance that is promoting the investments in Cameroon. The sectors that are being selected, 08 of them are the sectors that are being selected in our national development strategy”
BOMA DONATUS, Director General of the Cameroon Investment Promotion Agency (API) – Cameroon
For the Cameroonian authorities, private investment remains a key driver of growth and job creation. Through these new reforms, the government hopes to attract more capital and accelerate the local processing of raw materials. A major challenge for an economy striving for competitiveness and industrialization.
