Centre d'Etudes et de Recherche sur les Analyses et Politiques Economiques

CERAPE (Center for Studies and Research on Economic Analysis and Policy) is a scientific think tank founded on November 15, 2002, in Brazzaville by a group of academic researchers from the Faculty of Economics at Marien Ngouabi University. It was created in the wake of a devastating civil war in 1997 that caused thousands of deaths and widespread destruction of economic and social infrastructure, including research facilities. Because economic research was virtually nonexistent, the laboratories established at the Faculty of Economics at Marien Ngouabi University and within the Ministry of Scientific Research were paralyzed due to leadership problems, internal dysfunction, and a lack of financial resources.

The creation of CERAPE thus filled a gap and helped stimulate economic research in Congo. CERAPE currently operates in four countries: the Republic of Congo since its inception, the Central African Republic (CAR) since 2017 and officially 2018, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since 2022, and Cameroon since 2023. CERAPE currently has (as of 2024) 48 members, 31% of whom are women and 80% of whom are young people.