Cameroon’s imports of goods and services rose to 20.3% of GDP in 2025.

Neither way is good in itself. A higher share can reflect firms buying machinery and materials to expand, or households spending more on foreign goods. A lower share can reflect stronger local supply, or weaker demand at home. The latest figure is 20.3% of GDP for 2025, up from 18.7% of GDP a year earlier, a rise of 1.6 percentage points. Since 2016 the range runs from a low of 18.5% of GDP in 2020 to a high of 23.5% of GDP in 2019. The current level sits in the lower half of that span, closer to the 2020 low than to the 2019 peak.

Why it matters. At 20.3% of GDP, a meaningful part of what Cameroonian households consume and firms use in production is bought abroad and paid for in foreign currency. Import prices for fuel, food and equipment therefore feed directly into household budgets and business costs. For the state, a rising share adds to the foreign exchange the country needs to settle its purchases, so the next annual reading will show whether the 2025 rise has continued.