THE DANCE OF THE FRANC AND OF PRICES IN THE DRC: THE INFERNAL WALTZ?
Webinar of 15 August 2020
After the four exceptional highlights that brought together several hundred online participants, the
Makutano network presented the fifth and final instalment of the Sixtieth Anniversary Webinars.
For this final Webinar, the Makutano network called upon policymakers and business leaders. They debated the question of the instability of the national currency, the Congolese franc, and of domestic prices in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). They also reviewed the problems characteristic of the Congolese economy.
The participants were:
- H.E. Sele Yalaghuli, Minister of Finance of the DRC,
- H.E. Déogratias Mutombo, Governor of the Central Bank of Congo,
- Albert Yuma, President of the Federation of Enterprises of the Congo (FEC) and
- Célestin Muteba, Chief Executive Officer of Equity Bank Congo.
They decoded the Congolese franc by setting out the direct and indirect causes of its instability and/or volatility as well as its impact on the stability of the general price level. They also recommended a series of short- and long-term measures to address the problem of the strong volatility of the Congolese franc and of domestic prices, which is undermining the recovery of the Congolese economy in a post-Covid-19 perspective.
This debate was moderated by:
- Marlène Ngoy Mvidia, Chief Executive Officer of BGFI Bank,
- André Nyembwe Musungaie, Professor of Economics at UNIKIN and at the Catholic University of Louvain; and
- Félicité Singa, Founder of the EMAC consultancy firm.
The analyses carried out and the ideas put forward are presented in three parts. The first reviews the causes related to the instability of the exchange rate and of the prices of goods and services on the market. The second presents the current situation and the measures taken by the institutional players to ease the situation. The third and final part consists of a description of the recommendations to be considered to bring the DRC out of this rough patch.
