The figures are now official and have been certified by auditors. The Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), once the economic backbone of Southern Cameroons, closed the 2025 financial year with a staggering net loss of 20.04 billion FCFA. The latest results mark a dramatic reversal from 2024, when the corporation declared a profit of 45.42 billion FCFA. In just one year, the state-owned agro-industrial giant has suffered a financial deterioration exceeding 65 billion FCFA.
A closer examination of the figures reveals that the 2024 profit was largely sustained by extraordinary government intervention rather than genuine business recovery. During that year, the Yaoundé regime absorbed part of CDC’s tax and social security obligations, creating an exceptional gain estimated at 59.9 billion FCFA. This one-off financial rescue artificially inflated the corporation’s accounts and presented an illusion of stability. With no similar intervention in 2025, the company’s real financial fragility resurfaced. Consequently, CDC’s non-operating result plunged from a positive 59.9 billion FCFA to a deficit of 8.96 billion FCFA.
Ironically, the corporation’s core business operations recorded notable improvements. Revenue increased from 23.01 billion FCFA in 2024 to 24.93 billion FCFA in 2025. Operating profit also grew significantly, from 12.58 billion FCFA to 19.28 billion FCFA. These indicators suggest that the CDC’s productive machinery is gradually recovering despite enormous challenges. However, operational gains remain insufficient to offset the broader structural and security constraints crippling the corporation.
At the heart of CDC’s difficulties remains the ongoing war in Ambazonia. The conflict continues to severely impact production activities across vast plantation zones in Fako and Meme Counties. According to the latest figures, 51% of mature rubber plantations remain inaccessible and unexploited. Likewise, 36% of mature oil palm plantations are still out of production.
The situation is particularly difficult in strategic agricultural areas such as Ekona and Sonne-Likomba, where persistent insecurity, frequent ghost-town operations, and deadly attacks on plantation workers continue to disrupt economic activities. The killing of field workers and the inability of employees to access plantations have significantly reduced productivity and hindered efforts aimed at restoring normal operations.
The financial consequences are becoming increasingly alarming. Shareholders’ equity has fallen to just 3.20 billion FCFA, reflecting the corporation’s weakened financial position. Retained earnings remain deeply negative at minus 55.70 billion FCFA, while available cash reserves have sharply declined from 11.47 billion FCFA to only 4.13 billion FCFA within a year.
As Southern Cameroons’ largest agro-industrial employer and one of the region’s biggest employers, CDC remains trapped between improving operational performance and the devastating realities of an unresolved conflict. The corporation’s future now appears inseparable from the search for a lasting political solution to the Ambazonian conflict. Until sustainable peace returns to Ground Zero, the survival of the CDC will continue to hang in the balance, serving as yet another reminder of the enormous economic cost of the ongoing war in Ambazonia.
By Lucas Muma | BaretaNews
