NKWAH Akongnwi NGWA: South-South Development Cooperation: The impact of Emerging Donors’ Aid on African Countries (The Case of Sino-Cameroonian Aid Relations) cooperation. Secondly we will seize this opportunity to analyze the development strategy of Cameroon, hence enabling us to apprehend details on the development arrangements between both countries (B).
Cameroon and China in the Global SSDC Context Although the rise of the emerging economies in Africa is no longer new, it has sparked debate in traditional donor countries on the comparison of respective cooperation approaches and impacts (in particular with China). The changed context for Cameroon’s partnerships relates to recent developments in the international aid debates, linked to the growing role of SSC and emerging NSS triangular cooperation, as well as increasing criticism over traditional aid, which could possibly lead to the emergence of a new development paradigm. “We in China always say that you’d better teach someone how to fish than give him fish. The purpose of China’s assistance to Africa is to enhance the self-reliance capability of African countries”181. As such this sub-paragraph provides a background of Cameroons’s economic status as well as that of China and a historical relationship between both countries in the field of development cooperation.
Present economic status of Cameroon and China Cameroon’s economy has always been based on agriculture which employs more than 60% of the national work force, within a continuously growing population estimated at about 20 million in 2005. The country is a small petroleum producer with an average of 81,720 barrels per day (in 2008)182, but crude oil overtook agriculture and forestry commodities as the country’s main export. The structure of the economy has changed with time. In 2005 about 43% of Cameroon’s GDP was accounted for by the tertiary (services) sector and 29% by the secondary (Industry) sector, of which 58% came from manufacturing. The primary sector (Agriculture and Forestry) contributed 19%, including forestry, but excluding mining which is considered to be part of the Industry sector, while indirect taxes net of subsidies represented 9% of GDP. The oil sector contributed 8.2% of GDP183. Official figures in the Growth and Employment Strategic Paper (GESP) indicate that from 2003 to 2007, different sectors contributed to GDP as follows: 0.78% for the primary sector; 0.02% for the secondary sector; 2.22% for the tertiary sector; 0.3% for net taxes on subsidies. Domestic demand has been the main economic growth driving force, since 2003 with an average contribution of 3.54% of which 3.12% was exclusively consumption related, whilst capital expenditure contributed just an average 0.44%. Net exports had a negative contribution (-0.22%). 181
Ministry of Foreign Affairs- China, 2007 CIA, World Fact book, February 2010, http://www.indexmundi.com/cameroon/oil_production.html, accessed on 26 August 2010 183 International Monetary Fund (IMF), “Cameroon: Statistical Appendix”, IMF Country, Report No. 07/286 182
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