He welcomed the structural reforms put in place in the DRC to stabilize the country's macroeconomic framework.
Supporting figures, the IMF boss in the DRC said that monthly inflation has remained below 1% in the DRC since February 2018. The variation in the indicative exchange rate, he explained, has not exceeded 0.04% between March 2018 and May 2019. The IMF country representative said that the economic growth initiated by the DRC since 2017 has strengthened in 2018. Growth attributed mainly to the revenues generated by the industry extractive
Strongly improving the growth of the non-extractive sector Philippe Egoumé also pleaded for the diversification of the Congolese economy by inviting the country's leaders to put in place policies aimed at increasing revenues from the non-extractive sector.
He recalled that the DRC's growth during the last two years was mainly supported (74%) by mining sector revenues.
Given the volatile nature of commodity prices, he recommends that Congolese leaders set up economic programs to boost the growth of the non-extractive sector. This, he explains, would help to keep growth at an acceptable level, if commodity prices were to fall.
The opportunity was favorable for the IMF boss in the DRC to warn the Congolese authorities against the risks that could cause the downward trend in prices of raw materials including copper and cobalt.
"After two consecutive years of economic acceleration in 2017 and 2018, thanks to the high prices of the main exports in the DRC, economic growth will probably slow down in 2019 due to the downward trend in copper and cobalt prices", P. Egoumé explained.
It is in this perspective that he will welcome the emergency program initiated by President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi who, he said, puts a particular emphasis on increasing public investment spending...
(CKS/Yes)