New loan of $280 million to finance the budget deficit
The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo intends to raise 660 billion CDF, or 280 million USD thanks to the indexed treasury bill and indexed Treasury Bonds during the second quarter of 2023.
According to a press release from the Ministry of Finance, these loans will begin in April with an amount of 320 billion FC ($158.3 million), for the month of May the volume is 200 billion FC ($100 million). and for the month of June 140 billion FC ($70 million) at the parallel rate of April 24, 2023.
The decision comes to compensate for the weakness of revenue mobilization by the financial authorities.
This treasury bill initiative was launched in October 2019 to diversify its sources of financing and deal with the Government's still high public expenditure.
(Re) read – DRC: The Minister of Finance wants to borrow $70 million to pay for state emergencies
According to the Central Bank of Congo, on an annual basis, as of April 14, 2023, the balance of financial operations of the State shows a deficit of CDF 711.0 billion ($351.8 million), resulting from a level of revenue of 3 794.0 billion CDF ($1.8 billion) and that of expenditure of 4,505.1 billion ($2.2 billion).
The April-June 2023 Budget Commitment Plan indicates that public expenditure will be executed to the tune of $3 billion.
It is necessary for the government to activate this emergency plan to avoid payment default.
In its April 2023 edition, Africa's Pulse notes that economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to be dragged down by uncertainty in the global economy, the underperformance of the continent's largest economies, high inflation and a significant decline in investment growth insufficient to reduce extreme poverty.
“Economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to slow from 3.6% in 2022 to 3.1% in 2023.
Although inflation appears to have peaked last year, it is expected to remain elevated at 7.5% in 2023,” the report said.
Indeed, several governments in the region are facing increased debt payments and liquidity problems, linked to expensive borrowing and the appreciation of the US dollar.
Risks of debt distress remain high, with 22 countries in the region at high risk of external debt distress or in debt distress as of December 2022.
Adverse global financial conditions have increased borrowing costs and debt servicing costs in Africa, diverting money from much-needed development investments and threatening macro-fiscal stability.
In addition, the report states, the economic performance of sub-Saharan Africa is not uniform from one subregion to another.
Growth in real gross domestic product (GDP) in the West and Central Africa (AFW) sub-region is estimated at 3.4% in 2023 against 3.7% in 2022, while that of the sub-region Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) is estimated at 3.0% in 2023, compared to 3.5% in 2022.
However, in the face of darkening growth prospects and rising debt levels, Africa's Pulse recommends that African governments focus more on macroeconomic stability, domestic revenue mobilization, debt reduction and increase in productive investments.
In times of energy transition and increasing demand for metals and minerals, Africa's Pulse reports, resource-rich governments have an opportunity to better leverage natural resources to finance their public programs, diversify their economies and expanding access to energy.
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