by Joseph Ngwawi – SANF 06 No 59
The economy of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and how the various political parties will manage the vast mineral resources could determine the outcome of polls set for 30 July.
As the Congolese go to vote on Sunday, their ballot is effectively a choice between a return to war and sustainable peace and prosperity.
They will be aware that whatever choice they make will have far-reaching effects on the course taken by this vast southern African country, still suffering from seven years of a bitter war that sucked in five other countries from the region.
Thanks to an economic stabilisation programme initiated by President Joseph Kabila in May 2001 – a few months after coming to power – the DRC has achieved relative economic success over the past few years.
The stabilisation programme has reduced inflation, renewed mining activity and increased foreign direct investment.
The reforms, which have had the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), included liberalisation of petroleum prices and exchange rates, and adoption of fiscal and monetary policy discipline. The country’s annualised inflation rate, once one of the highest in the world, declined from more than 500 percent in 2000 to around seven percent in 2003.
The country has since June 2002 been able to access credit from the IMF and the World Bank, while other bilateral donors have pledged to fund development and reconstruction projects.
The Paris Club also granted the DRC Highly Indebted Poor Country status in July 2003, a development that has helped to alleviate Kinshasa’s external sovereign debt burden and freed funds for economic development.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth was over five percent in 2005, with an estimated total GDP of US$7.2 billion and per capita GDP of US$120.
If the outcome of the elections is based on economic policies, this will favour at least three of the 33 presidential candidates who have some experience in economic management. These are the 35-year-old Kabila, Jean-Pierre Bemba of the Movement for the Liberation of Congo, and 58-year-old Pierre Pay-Pay wa Syakassighe.
Kabila has managed to bring peace and stability to the country since coming to power. These have contributed significantly to the success of the economic stabilisation programme he has pursued over the past five years.
Bemba, 43, is one of the vice-presidents in the current transitional government and is responsible for the economic and finance portfolio. Together with Kabila, they have overseen implementation of the economic recovery programme.
Pay-Pay wa Syakassighe is a former governor of the DRC central bank who has been campaigning for “rational” leadership of the DRC. He wants the Congolese to give a chance to those with experience to run the affairs of the country.
He also served as minister of economics and finance under the late President Mobutu Sese Seko.
Economic management and control of the country’s mineral resources have been the main causes of conflicts in the DRC.
Besides the stability that a peaceful electoral process will bring to the DRC, the other carrot that will be dangling in front of the Congolese people on 30 July is the potential peace dividend that comes with a stable environment.
The real prize of peace will be the consolidation of current macroeconomic, a general improvement in infrastructure and a return to normalcy in all spheres of life.
The return to sustainable peace will strengthen the DRC’s ability to exploit its vast mineral and other resources in a more sustainable and equitable manner.
The country is home to one of the world’s largest diamond, copper and cobalt deposits. It was the fourth largest producer of industrial diamonds in the 1980s and the mineral continues to account for over half of its annual exports.
Due to political instability, the country has not fully enjoyed the benefits from its vast diamond deposits.
The DRC has vast untapped agricultural capacity and has potential to become the next food-basket of Africa.
Straddling the equator and spanning two tropical zones, its climate favours the cultivation of a wide range of tropical and Mediterranean crops. More than half of the DRC’s land is arable and suitable for farming but currently just a fraction is being utilised.
