Yesterday I had a lunch with several friends and two
of them told me: ‘this is very good but but it does not change 'real people'
lives’. Indeed, what is the point of having new 'big' notes if people are
unpaid and/or still live with less than a dollar per day anyway...?
According to the World Bank, 95.15% of the Congolese
was living with less than 2 dollars per day in 2006 while 87.72% with less than
a dollar. The GDP per capita (constant 2005 international $) was USD 329.
Please note that this number assumes that the wealth is equally distributed
among all Congolese!!!
I fully agree with them
but I do think it is still something that had to be done for the 'overall good’
of our currency and our economy. The main challenge remains to grow this
economy faster without leaving anyone behind...
3 comments:
I have a question regarding the economy of DRC. My first question will be,why in drc people get paid in american dollars.and do we have a minimum wage.what are the taxes in drc.
I completely agree with your friends, just imagine, according to the UNDP report published in 2009, over 80% of the Congolese population is very poor, so I just ask you a question: Is that it is a priority to emit large bills for develop the DRC now?, I do not think he could do better, for example think of boosting domestic production, because it is what makes the strength of the local currency.
Christian Domayi
@ navya. People get paid in usd because there is a lack of trust toward the local currency (which is legitimate). If I remember correctly they have tried to implement a minimum wage of usd 100 but the implementation was not a success. When people are ready to work for less due to poverty and that the black economy represents the essential of the economy imposing a minimum wage will never work. Taxes on wages are around 30% (for those paying them).
@ Chris: As I said, the priority is to grow our economy. Issuing new notes may not be the ultimate way to reach this goal but it helps the Central Bank to reduce its costs of operation and this is not negligeable... increasing the value of your currency should not prevent you from doing something else for the economy...
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