First of all, happy new year to all my readers!!!
For the first time in… hummmm for the first time ever, the DRC has witnessed a peaceful transfer of power in the country, in nearly 60 years.
The new president is inheriting a country that could be in a better shape economically… Although last year indicators were better than the 2017 ones; there is a lot to be done.
In 2018, the inflation rate stood @ 7% from 55% the previous year and the Congolese Franc remained stable with a depreciation of only 0,13% against the US Dollar. The Forex reserves remain very low at USD 914 million, representing only 3 weeks of imports.
The challenges faced by the new president are enormous. Indeed, the DRC is considered as one of the most corrupted countries in the world (ranked 161 on 180 countries by Transparency International) with one of the most difficult business environment (#184/190 according to the World Bank) as well as an extremely low purchasing power with one of the poorest population in the world (#176/188 according to the UNDP).
It is also extremely urgent to diversify to economy. It has to be done and it should not be an empty slogan. The country cannot continue to remain at the mercy of the commodities prices. According to Central Bank of Congo data, mining sector contribution to the country GDP was above 63% by mid-June 2018 and unfortunately, the multiplier effect of this sector on the economy has been very low so far…
There is a lot of expectations from the new president and I imagine he won’t get any grace period.
I wrote in this article title that the challenges remained the same but I think there will be even bigger for the new president as people's hope has rarely be so high!
Let wish him good luck for the good of this beautiful country…
H.O.
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