Democratic Republic of Congo to enter IMF program
A special fund from the IMF could be allocated to the least developed countries, to help them face the crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Here, the logo of the institution at its headquarters in Washington, September 4, 2018. REUTERS - Yuri Gripas
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After two years of negotiations, the IMF's board of directors validated this program established by mutual agreement with the country's authorities.
This was the ambition of President Félix Tshisekedi since his accession to power.
Over three years, the DRC should receive one and a half billion dollars per tranche in exchange for reforms and compliance with certain management criteria.
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The DRC will receive one and a half billion dollars over three years.
The first disbursement of $ 217 million is expected in the coming days.
But after that, it will be necessary to fulfill conditions ...
This requires a realistic budget in terms of expenses. Too often in Congo, public expenditure no longer corresponds to the budget law adopted in Parliament. It will also be necessary to control the macroeconomic framework, the public deficit, the foreign exchange reserves, to respect the procurement procedures, to restore the VAT, to rationalize the fiscal and parafiscal system, to publish all the mining contracts, concluded as in come and even reform the pension system.
The DRC and the IMF have agreed to allocate a larger share of state resources to social spending.
During its three years, the Central Bank should also improve its supervision of the banking system.
For the government, it will be the business environment and the structures that can play a key role in the fight against corruption, such as the Court of Accounts, the General Inspectorate of Finance and even the agency for the prevention and fight against corruption. Corruption.
Every six months, the performance of the DRC will be evaluated.
If all the reforms are respected, the IMF's executive board will or will not approve a new disbursement.
Under Joseph Kabila, two programs had been adopted.
The second in 2009 was interrupted two years later by the Congolese authorities.
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