KINSHASA: The Democratic Republic of Congo’s economy grew by 8.5 percent last year and could achieve double digit growth in 2014, helped by relative calm in the mineral-rich east, the prime minister said yesterday.
Congo, a country the size of Western Europe, has been plagued by conflict for decades, making it difficult to exploit the resources beneath its soil worth trillions of dollars.
But late last year the Congolese army, backed by a UN unit, achieved a series of victories over M23 rebels and signed a peace deal with them, ending a 20-month conflict and brightening economic prospects.
“We can today predict growth in double figures for 2014,” Augustin Matata Ponyo told journalists on Saturday.
Ponyo’s estimate for 2013 growth was above a November forecast from the International Monetary Fund of 6.2 percent. The IMF predicted growth of 10.5 percent in 2014 for Congo.
M23 is one of dozens of rebel groups in eastern Congo. Millions of people have died from violence, disease and hunger since the 1990s as armed groups fought for control of the area’s deposits of gold, diamonds, copper, cobalt and uranium.
Ponyo said that Congo had no immediate plans to resume talks with the IMF over a programme of more than $200m in loans, suspended in late 2012 after authorities failed to abide by a request to publish mining contracts.
However, he assured investors that the country retained close ties with the IMF.
“(IMF Managing Director) Christine Lagarde congratulated Congo for its exceptional economic performance,” said Ponyo.
Reuters
