The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a $442 million disbursement to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after the country implemented key reforms under a 38-month lending programme approved earlier this year.

The IMF last week completed the second review of its Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and the first review of its Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), unlocking $260 million under the RSF and $182 million under the ECF.

The two programmes, worth $1.72 billion and $1.03 billion respectively over 38 months, were approved by the IMF Executive Board on January 15, 2025.

In a statement dated December 19, the IMF said economic activity in the DRC had remained resilient despite a challenging security situation in the east.

This is despite renewed violence following the presidential-level endorsement of a US-brokered peace accord between the DRC and Rwanda, and the signing of a Qatar-mediated framework agreement between the government and the M23 rebel group.“The renewed violence has further deepened the humanitarian crisis,” the IMF said.

The ECF-supported programme aims to preserve macroeconomic stability, improve the business climate, strengthen governance and transparency, and support inclusive growth.

Reforms under the programme include continued revenue mobilisation and deeper public financial management changes, with a focus on efficiency and accountability in the use of public resources.

The RSF-supported programme seeks to help the conflict-affected economy advance its climate adaptation and mitigation agenda while consolidating its role in the transition to a low-carbon global economy.“Economic activity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo remains resilient, underpinned by robust performance in the mining sector, and inflationary pressures have moderated,” said Kenji Okamura, the IMF’s deputy managing director and acting chair.“Notwithstanding the positive outlook, downside risks persist, particularly related to security and humanitarian challenges, deeper and more prolonged cuts in official development assistance, and renewed commodity price volatility.”The IMF said Kinshasa’s performance under the ECF-supported programme had been satisfactory, with all performance criteria met through the end of June 2025, except for a condition barring the introduction or modification of multiple currency practices.

The authorities requested, and were granted, a waiver for the temporary breach, which has since been discontinued.

Programme performance remained satisfactory, although some indicative targets – specifically those on social spending and emergency procedures – were missed due to elevated security-related expenditure.

The IMF said seven of eight non-continuous structural benchmarks were met, with the remaining benchmark on standardised VAT invoicing implemented with a short delay. All continuous benchmarks were met, and performance under the RSF was also deemed satisfactory.

Two reforms – on climate-related fiscal risk analysis and disaster risk management policy – were implemented ahead of the review.

Real GDP growth is projected to exceed five percent in 2025 and 2026, driven by the extractives sector.

External stability has improved on the back of strong copper exports and prices, despite the temporary suspension of cobalt exports for much of 2025.

The stronger current account supported reserve accumulation, though reserves remain below recommended levels.

Inflation fell sharply from 11.7 percent at end of 2024 to 2.2 percent in November 2025, supported by tight monetary policy and a sharp appreciation of the Congolese franc.

Against this backdrop, the central bank cut its policy rate from 25 percent to 17.5 percent in early October. © Copyright 2022 Nation Media Group. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).
James Anyanzwa