“Congo has made significant progress, but there is still a lot of additional progress that to be made”, Alex Segura-Ubiergo, Head of the IMF mission, said on the occasion of the return of findings of the first review of the Agreement signed with Congo, under the Extended Credit Faciclity (ECF) and consultations under Article 4. This mission stayed in Brazzaville from Thursday 24 October to Wednesday 6 November 2019.
The International Monetary Fund Mission exchanged views with the Minister of Finance and Budget, Calixte Nganongo, and the Prime Minister, Head of Governement, Clément Mouamba, on the objectives and outcomes achieved. Here is the summary made by Alex Segura-Ubiergo
“The first objective of the mission is to review the implementation of the Congo’s economic Programme, supported by the IMF.
The second part is the one called by IMF “Article 4”, that is to say, the analysis of the main challenges of the Congolese economy in the medium term. We are starting to see the return of non-oil growth. It is true that this growth remains relatively weak. But, after three years of recession, seeing the start of this growth is a positive sign.
We advised the Congolese authorities to continue the reforms, especially those concerning the payment of domestic debt, which will revitalise the private sector. And also to take the structural measures that could attrack investors. For example, reforms on transparency and good governance.
Authorities have made efforts to present the Congo file to the Board of directors on 11 July 2019. That is why we advise Congo, during this mission, to continue reforms, because the foreign investor does a lot of analysis on transparency issue, and also on the business climate.
The third topic of discussion was the issue of social spending. As you know, IMF attaches particular importance to the social sectors. Despite fiscal challenges, the Government has confirmed its commitment to support the most vulnerable strata of the population. This is one of the objectives of the Programme.
Finally, we have seen the Government's efforts to reduce the public debt burden. Indeed, there has been an effort to better control the public debt. We recommended that the Government continue reforms, to improve efficiency and transparency in the management of public finance, and also, restructuring external foreign trade debt, which still has a significant impact on the Congolese economy.
To sum up, Congo has made significant progress, but there remains a lot of additional progress to be made".
As a reminder, 4 months after the signing of the Agreement between Congo and IMF on 11 July 2019 in Washington, this IMF first review follows the fact-finding mission that it made in Brazzaville in September 2019.
