by Daniel Whelan

Created on: February 22, 2007

A Comparison Of The Economic Performances Of Great Britain And Cameroon

Great Britain was the leading industrial and maritime power of the 19th century; the nation played a great part in the development of parliamentary democracy and in advancing literature and science. It is located in Western Europe, between the north Atlantic and the North Sea. It has a population of 60,609,153 and its natural resources are coal, petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, lead, zinc, gold, tin, limestone, salt, clay, chalk, gypsum, potash, silica sand, slate and arable land.

The former French colony of Cameroon and part of the British part of Cameroon merged in 1961 to form the country of the present day. The country generally enjoys economic stability, is well developed in the mediums of agriculture, roads, railways and petroleum industry. It is located in Western Africa bordering the Bight of Biafra. It has a population of 17,340,702 and an average age of only 18.9 years, showing the countries relative youth. Its natural resources are petroleum, bauxite, iron ore, timber and potential hydropower.

The economy of Great Britain is currently growing at a rate of 2.6% (GDP-real growth rate) compared to the 4.1% that the economy of Cameroon is currently growing at. The economy of Cameroon is growing more quickly than that of Great Britain because it is a developing country. The purpose of this economic growth is primarily to increase living standards; the economic growth shifts the production possibility frontier outwards and allows more goods and services to be provided.

Great Britain completes the second macro-economic objective of full employment very well with an unemployment rate of only 5.4%, the unemployment rate of Cameroon is 30%. However this only illustrates the almost full employment of human resources, it is impossible to tell whether or not all natural and manufactured resources are being utilised. The unemployment rate of Cameroon is very high compared to that of Great Britain and as the purpose is of an economic policy is to increase the welfare of the countries inhabitants this shows that the Cameroonian government is not totally effective. It is Difficult to keep full employment at the same time as keeping inflation low; this is because the higher employment leads to more consumer spending and therefore higher prices as stated in the law of demand. There is a possibility of this resulting in a short-term trade off.

Both nations have similar rates of inflation, Great Britain

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