The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is experiencing a stabilization of the exchange rate on the parallel market. Indeed, the exchange rate remained stable over this study period which runs from April 28 to May 5, 2023, established at 2,345 CDF for one US dollar.
Despite a difficult start to the year marked by a weekly average depreciation of 1.1% of the Congolese franc from January 6 to February 28, 2023, the exchange rate has been stable since March. This stability is also perceptible in the major cities of the provinces where the average exchange rate was 2,298.83 CDF per US dollar, ie a weekly depreciation of 0.35%.
On the side of the foreign currency budget, the DRC is doing well. The execution of the latter resulted in a surplus of 18.28 million dollars as of April 28, 2023. The reserves amounted to 4.2 billion dollars as of May 4, 2023 representing an import cover of 2.2 months.
The articles recently published on the Fatshimétrie blog make it possible to keep up to date with current events in the DRC. The country is currently in full political effervescence with the launch of a new political party by Pastor Mukuna for the socio-economic recovery of Congo. The retrocession of budgets intended for the provinces to boost their economic development was also mentioned in a recent article.
The opposition is also worried about the high cost of living as well as the chaotic electoral process and recently postponed its peaceful march to speak out against these issues. The health of displaced women from Goma is also at the center of concerns with the arrival of IPAS to provide reproductive health care and safe abortions.
In terms of diamond harvesting, the DRC is inspired by the Botswana model to restructure its diamond industry. On the humanitarian side, urgent mobilization is necessary to respond to the explosion of needs and finance the humanitarian response. Finally, a reorganization of the CENI is a source of tension in the DRC and Botswana investors are encouraged to seize investment opportunities in the country.
The DRC is therefore a country on the move with significant advances in the exchange rate and budget, but also political and health concerns. It is important to keep up to date with the news to fully understand the country’s current issues.