to the Medium-Term Economic and Budgetary Programming Document 2026-2028 currently being examined by Parliament, in 2024, Cameroon’s wage bill reached 1,522.8 billion CFA francs (2.7 billion USD). This is 32.3 billion CFA francs (nearly 58 million USD) more than the 1,490.5 billion CFA francs (2.6 billion USD) initially planned for the period under review, and an increase of 12.2% compared to the 1,357 billion CFA francs (2.4 billion USD) in 2023. The salaries of public servants in 2024 accounted for 38.6% of annual tax revenues, a rate higher than the tolerance threshold (35%) in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC).
This level of Cameroon’s wage bill is explained by “the partial settlement of salary arrears owed to teachers, the 5% salary increase applied in February 2024, and the budgetary support for a significant number of new recruits in the defense forces,” as stated in the document being examined by Parliament.
The same document also indicates that out of the 293.9 billion CFA francs (approximately 525 million USD) in state salary arrears as of January 1, 2024, the government made payments of 174.5 billion CFA francs (312 million USD) in 2024.
It is worth noting that by the end of that year, according to data from the Ministry of Public Service and Administrative Reform (Minfopra), in 2024, the State of Cameroon had 390,170 employees and 154,610 pensioners. Managing these numbers remains the government’s main challenge in its pursuit of budget sustainability. This goal faces obstacles due to the state’s projections, which foresee salary expenses of 1,566.6 billion CFA francs (2.8 billion USD) in 2025 and 1,607.3 billion CFA francs (2.9 billion USD) in 2026.
