Natural Resources and Capital Flight in Cameroon

This paper analyses the amount of capital flight associated with the natural resources sector (oil and timber) in Cameroon. The paper adjusted the methodology proposed by Boyce and Ndikumana () to take into account the practice of misinvoicing in the oil and timber industries using data from World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS) and COMTRADE. The results confirm that the natural resources sector, and in particular the oil and timber industry, is an important conduit of capital flight through trade misinvoicing. This finding underscores the need to improve governance in the extractive industries, as well as the quality of institutions, especially those that are in charge of trade transactions.