In a recent study, titled “Evaluation of Financing for Development [EFD] in Cameroon” and funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), it emerges that, compared to countries like Ghana, the DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Senegal, South Africa, or Tunisia, the Cameroonian diaspora contributes very little to the financing of the economy.
As proof, the report explains that in a country like Ghana, the amount of financial flows received from the diaspora in the form of current transfers amounted to 3,536 million dollars in 2017 (just over 2,000 billion FCFA ); while in the same year, Cameroon received only 316 million dollars (about 185 billion FCFA).
Also during the period under review, current transfers represented 13% of GDP in the Comoros, 10% of GDP in Senegal, 8.45% in Togo, 6% in Ghana and 7% in Mali and only 0.9% of Cameroon’s GDP.
In a first hypothesis, the report thinks that the weak mobilization of diaspora funds in Cameroon could be justified by the costs associated with the transfer of funds before changing its mind. “Analysis reveals that this is not the case; because the average transaction cost to transfer funds to Cameroon is one of the lowest in Africa. (…) These costs represent around 4% of the amount to be transferred to Cameroon, while in countries such as Benin, Botswana or Namibia, they are more than 15% ”.
For UNDP, this phenomenon confirms the need to conduct studies to identify the determining factors of the transfer of funds, and the channels by which these transfers are channeled.
“The low involvement of the Cameroonian diaspora in the development of the country therefore deserves to be addressed by in-depth studies ranging from the evaluation, if only approximate, of its savings potential to the search for specific instruments that can encourage Cameroonians living abroad to invest more in their country of origin, “suggests the report.
UNDP believes that it is desirable for local authorities to be more involved in all initiatives and other platforms for dialogue with the diaspora so that they can present to them local development projects that would benefit not only Cameroon as a whole, but more to their families and loved ones living in the most remote corners of the country.