$8.46 billion (2004 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
on 23 January 2001, the Paris Club agreed to reduce Cameroon's debt
of $1.3 billion by $900 million; debt relief now totals $1.26 billion
Currency (code):
Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XAF); note - responsible
authority is the Bank of the Central African States
Currency code:
XAF
Exchange rates:
Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XAF) per US dollar - 528.29
(2004), 581.2 (2003), 696.99 (2002), 733.04 (2001), 711.98 (2000)
Fiscal year:
1 July - 30 June
Communications Cameroon
Telephones - main lines in use:
110,900 (2002)
Telephones - mobile cellular:
1.077 million (2003)
Telephone system:
general assessment: available only to business and government
domestic: cable, microwave radio relay, and tropospheric scatter
international: country code - 237; satellite earth stations - 2
Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean); fiber optic submarine cable (SAT-3/WASC)
provides connectivity to Europe and Asia
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 2, FM 9, shortwave 3 (2002)
Radios:
2.27 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations:
1 (2002)
Televisions:
450,000 (1997)
Internet country code:
.cm
Internet hosts:
479 (2004)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
1 (2002)
Internet users: 60,000 (2002) note: Cameroon also had more than 100 cyber-cafes in 2001
Transportation Cameroon
Railways: total: 1,008 km narrow gauge: 1,008 km 1.000-m gauge (2004)
Highways: total: 34,300 km paved: 4,288 km unpaved: 30,012 km (1999 est.)
Waterways:
navigation mainly on Benue River; limited during rainy season (2004)
Pipelines:
gas 90 km; liquid petroleum gas 9 km; oil 1,120 km (2004)
Ports and harbors:
Douala, Limboh Terminal
Merchant marine:
total: 1 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 169,593 GRT/357,023 DWT
by type: petroleum tanker 1 (2005)
Airports:
47 (2004 est.)
Airports - with paved runways: total: 11 over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 4 1,524 to 2,437 m: 3 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 1 (2004 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 36 1,524 to 2,437 m: 7 914 to 1,523 m: 20 under 914 m: 9 (2004 est.)
Military Cameroon
Military branches:
Cameroon Armed Forces: Army, Navy (includes Naval Infantry), Air
Force
Military service age and obligation:
18 years of age for voluntary military service; no conscription
(1999)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 18–49: 3,410,440 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18–49: 1,720,385 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males: 188,662 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$221.1 million (2004)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.6% (2004)
Transnational Issues Cameroon
Disputes - international:
ICJ ruled in 2002 on the entire Cameroon-Nigeria land and maritime
boundary but the parties formed a Joint Border Commission, which
continues to meet regularly to resolve differences bilaterally and
have commenced with demarcation in less-contested sections of the
boundary, starting in Lake Chad in the north; implementation of the
ICJ ruling on the Cameroon-Equatorial Guinea-Nigeria maritime
boundary in the Gulf of Guinea is impeded by imprecisely defined
coordinates, the unresolved Bakassi allocation, and a sovereignty
dispute between Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon over an island at the
mouth of the Ntem River; Nigeria initially rejected cession of the
Bakasi Peninsula, then agreed, but has yet to withdraw its forces
while much of the indigenous population opposes cession; only
Nigeria and Cameroon have heeded the Lake Chad Commission's
admonition to ratify the delimitation treaty which also includes
Chad and Niger
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
refugees (country of origin): 39,261 (Chad) 16,983 (Nigeria) 9,634
