The governor of the BCC said that a likely conclusion of a formal program between the DRC government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) could intervene after the review and assessment of the work of the team that stayed in the DRC on the IMF's Executive Board.

Once the formal program has been concluded, the request may be formulated by the DRC government, if it so wishes, in the sense of seeking support from the Government Economic Program (PEG).

To what will be able to make that the law of finances 2020 is supported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). With the exception of IMF support, the state budget for budget year 2020 can also benefit f of the support of other partners if necessary. But only the IMF's budget support to the Democratic Republic of Congo can only come in the third quarter of 2019.

In the meantime, the IMF's team of experts, who have been in the DRC from May 22 to June 5, is preparing its working report, which will be submitted to the IMF's Executive Board in the third quarter of this year for review and validation.

"It is true that the DRC is waiting for the review and evaluation of this report in the third quarter of 2019 by the Board of Directors of the International Monetary Fund. It is at the end of this evaluation that the DRC will enter into negotiations with this institution for the conclusion of the Government's Economic Program, which will be supported by IMF resources. It goes without saying that when you have a program supported by IMF resources, it is not just these resources.

Other financial partners such as the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the European Union and others can also help the country in this context, "said the governor of the BCC.

As a reminder, IMF experts visited Kinshasa from 22 May to 5 June as part of the Article IV of consultation. These consultations focused mainly on priority areas to enable IMF experts to get a clear image of the state of the economy as well as the public finances of the DRC

The five main thrusts that were the subject of these consultations concern the strengthening of the institutional governance framework; domestic resource mobilization; management of government capital expenditures; public debt management and the business climate.

Among the recommendations resulting from the mission were the improvement of the business climate and the promotion of private sector investments; streamlining tax expenditures and maximizing mining and non-mining revenues; greater transparency in the management of natural resources.

Raising the level of foreign exchange reserves; and strengthening controls based on risk and the quality of financial data are also among the recommendations made by the World Bank team.

(CKS/PKF)