The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) adopted a draft decree at an extraordinary meeting of the government’s Council of Ministers on May 25. Proposed by the Deputy Minister of Planning, Pascal Bitika, this project focuses on the management of public investments in the country.
Article 34 of the Constitution reserves an important place for public investments, but the absence of a precise regulatory framework is a real brake on their development. Faced with this, the government has decided to propose a decree which would make it possible to strengthen the public investment budget, to make it an effective instrument of public management.
The draft decree provides in particular for a Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Monitoring and Evaluation (PPBSE) system, to make public investments more visible and traceable. For this, a consolidated database will be created, for a more exhaustive Public Investment Program (PIP). The decree also ensures a rigorous selection of public investments, with a maturation of public investment projects, planning, programming, execution, as well as monitoring and evaluation.
Investment projects will have a unique number that will follow them throughout their life cycle. Ex-ante, mid-term and ex-post evaluations, monitoring of ongoing projects and auditing will be automated.
The draft decree also makes it possible to give substance to the recommendations made by the International Monetary Fund following the evaluation of the management of public investments in 2022. These recommendations seek to correct the bottlenecks that weigh on the management of investments.
In short, with this draft decree, the government of the DRC is aiming for strong and sustained economic growth, by ensuring compliance with procedures and effective management of public investments.