DRC: central bank unveils its 2019 financial audit report

Congolese francs (illustrative image).

Screenshot of the DRC Congolese ministry website.

Text by: RFI Follow

5 mins

This is a first, the central bank of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has published on its website the audit of its financial statements as of December 31, 2019, carried out for the first time by the audit firm Deloitte.

It was a requirement of the IMF which demands more transparency from the country.

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Unsurprisingly, the general treasury account was in the red on December 31, 2019. But this report reveals the existence of about thirty sub-accounts, creditors themselves, which could have been used to make up this deficit, such as the one entitled “ 

”.

On this account sleep more than 50 million dollars.

However, the last support from the European Union dates back to 2010 and it was around that amount.

#RDC #BCC: the BCC has published its 2019 financial statements on its website, a 1st (IMF requirement).

We discover all kinds of oddities there such as the credit sub-accounts of the general treasury account (in deficit): EU budget support, Francophonie summit, Zairianized property claims pic.twitter.com/Wto6KXffNw

  Sonia Rolley (@soniarolley) October 4, 2020

Most of these sub-accounts should undoubtedly have been settled a long time ago, like that of the Francophonie Summit held in 2012. The Deloitte firm provides no explanation for all this.

We also discover that the Mint which prints Congolese banknotes, but also special documents, has many creditors: ministries like that of Primary Education, public funds like the Industry Promotion Fund or even two of the 26 provinces in the country, such as the wealthy Haut Katanga.

Debts to Burundi and Rwanda

As of December 31, 2019, the Central Bank also had tens of millions of dollars housed in some commercial banks,

and

- quite controversial banks.

However, it had to repatriate even more other banks at the request of the IMF to replenish foreign exchange reserves.

In this audit report, we also learn that the Congolese Central Bank is indebted to Rwanda for a little over a million dollars, and to Burundi for more than 4 million, without anyone knowing since. when these debts were incurred.

This report was a request from the International Monetary Fund before launching negotiations for a real assistance program.

Even if it welcomes this first step, Congolese civil society continues to believe that we are far from the promised transparency.

For the former banker and whistleblower, Jean-Jacques Lumumba, there are a lot of figures, without any real explanation: “

"

Jean-Jacques Lumumba analyzes the financial audit report of the Central Bank of Congo

Sonia rolley

►Also read: DRC: prior to negotiations, the IMF requests a realistic 2021 budget

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