“We’re an extroverted economy. This means that our exports and imports are more difficult to do today than they were yesterday. So that means, as a result, our revenues are also declining very rapidly,” This declaration is from the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba made this declaration when he met the presidents of the parliament on Monday April 27 to discuss about the country’s 2020 budget’s review. The DRC had drawn up a budget of 11 billion dollars for the year 2020, a budget which has been the subject of several criticisms. The IMF estimated that the budget of nearly $11 billion was unrealistic. He called on the Congolese government to focus on revenue mobilization and to set spending priorities. But the government did not seem to listen. With the coronavirus pandemic slowing down the economy, Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba insisted on the fact that it will now be necessary to adapt to the situation. And this very quickly: “We have to recognize that the budget that has been voted, we will certainly have difficulties to achieve it, because the revenues do not follow, while the expenses are still important» The Prime Minister explained. He explained that the macro-economic framework on which the government had built its revenue and expenditure projections for the fiscal year 2020 was being disrupted by the pandemic. And the nature of the Congolese economy was not helping to cushion the shock.
However, in recent weeks, civil society organizations have mainly advocated for a reduction in the standard of living of the institutions of the Republic.