IMF extends $624 million in loans to DR. Congo

The International Monetary Fund said its executive board had approved a three-year 551.45 million dollar loan to the country, as well as additional assistance of 72.68 million dollars under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HICP) Initiative to reduce its debt service payments to the IMF.

"The Democratic Republic of the Congo has made important socioeconomic progress since 2001, demonstrated by the political transition to a democratically elected government, robust rates of economic growth, and the taming of hyperinflation," the Washington-based institution said in a statement.

"Nonetheless, socioeconomic conditions remain poor; the country’s infrastructure is dilapidated; and the country’s external debt is unsustainable," it said, adding that the global economic crisis had "further aggravated these conditions. "The new loan, which will be disbursed in three payments, "will support the authorities’ implementation of their poverty reduction and growth strategy and economic reform program," it said.

DRC authorities find it hard to control their huge country, which is beset by several armed groups active on its eastern border, an undisciplined army and crumbling infrastructure after years of war and mismanagement. Some two million people are believed to have been killed in 10 years of warfare, according to non-governmental organizations. 

Source: Africa the good news