While a mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been in Kinshasa for more than a week, Kristalina Ivanova Gueorguieva, managing director of this financial institution, met on Monday in Paris with Félix Tshisekedi. This meeting, held on the sidelines of the international summit on the financing of African economies, concerned negotiations on a new program. Even if progress is recorded, there is still a long way to go given the conditions to be met by the Congolese party.
For some of the money, there will be no conditionalities. The DRC is expecting $1.5 billion from the IMF by August. This is under the special drawing rights. This will allow the country to increase its official reserves. As for the discussions underway in Kinshasa, there is talk of an additional $1.5 billion that could be granted under a three-year program.
But for negotiations to begin on this program, previous commitments made by the DRC must be assessed.
For example, the country must justify the use of funds received for the fight against the coronavirus. This is an amount of more than $360 million granted in April 2020. The IMF wants the Congolese government to publish the contracts signed with the various providers.
There are also expected changes on the side of the Central Bank of Congo (BCC) which must comply with the new law that organizes it from 2018. For example, a 1st and 2nd vice-governor must be quickly appointed. In the current configuration, the vice-governor as well as all the directors are in excess of their mandates.
In short, a new management board and a renewed board of directors are needed to strengthen the credibility of the BCC vis-à-vis its partners.
In addition to these two major conditions, the IMF also insisted on good governance, the fight against corruption and the need to improve public revenue mobilization.