December 27,1997
On initiative of the Worldbank a meeting of "Friends of Congo" took place in Brussels on 4 December 1997. Participants were representatives of national governments, UN-organisations and international financial institutions. The Congolese delegation, headed by the ministers of Foreign Affairs and Finance, went back home with good news. The international community - including France which had opposed for a long time - decided to lend a hand to the new Congolese government for the reconstruction of the country.
Taking over the power in May, Kabila and his crew herited a country in social and economic decomposition. In the months that followed, they started with great elan to make an inventarisation of the bottle necks in socio-economic situation and to elaborate a development strategy in order to get the country going. With this strategy, presented in a document titled Economic Stabilization and Recovery Program, they were finally able to convince the sceptical observers of the expertise and good faith of the authors, and to turn them into 'friends of the Democratic Republic of Congo'.
The ESRP describes a first phase of an economic three-year plan, that must take Congo on the way of, what the authors call, a social market economy. In this way Congo distances itself from the Mobutu system, in which the more lucrative business was in the hands of the state (that is, the clique around the dictator), but also from a model in which the country is opened without reserve to foreign investment, so that the needs of the population, like medical care, education, etc. would be neglected.
This first phase, the Emergency Program, is centered around three
components: macroeconomic stabilization, economic recovery and
reversing the degradation of human resources (health, education
etc).
The authors recognize frankly that macroeconomic stability
in the country will be impossible without creating a democratic
society. First steps have been taken: the constitutional
commission has been established and has started its work, there
is a timetable leading to elections in two years. Strengthening
the administration of justice is urgently required, the judicial
system being totaly degenerated under the past regime by
corruption and financial neglection.
Part of macroeconomic stabilization is a strict control over public spending, in order to stop the rampant inflation (about 1800% in the last 5 years), and to reform of the banking system that is in fact bankrupt already for several years, as a consequence of which only 20% of the economy takes place within the legal (white) circuit. In a sense the first part has already succeeded: as a result of the policy of the new governor of the Bank of Congo inflation has been reduced to approximately 0% in the last months. For the second part help is needed from World Bank, that has to support the introduction of the new currency, the Congolese franc.
Economic recovery has to result from reviving transportation, agriculture, energy and mining. In the last three fields Congo is in principle superlatively rich. A well running Congolese economy may therefore be a motor to prosperity for the whole region. It is hence not surprising that the USA, in its role of unique superpower, would like to canalize its influence on Central Africa via Kinshasa. Much depends on the restoration of the transport system, that has in fact stopped to exist in the ordinary sense of the word. For example, the most important road, that links Kinshasa to the sea port Matadi, is no more than piste interrupted by holes and trenches: a truck takes 3 days to cover the distance of about 350 km. Reconstruction of this road is crucial for the food supply of the capital with its more than 4 milion inhabitants, and stands high on the governments priority list. At the meeting in Brussels the EU declared itself willing to accept the financing of this project.
The last item, reversing the degradation of human resouces,
concerns a.o. health care. For several years the state has
invested nothing at all in this sector. Hospitals have become
houses of mourning. In the framework of the emergency program the
government aims to rehabilitate one general hospital for each
province. In good collaboration of government and private
enterprises provisioning with medical drugs and equipmenthas to
be garanteed. Alarming for public health is the sanitary
situation in the big cities. Wastes lying around in the streets
and blocked drainage channels form sources of diseases, as
cholera, typhoid feverm malaria etc. Urban clean-up has already
started in Kinshasa. The condition of the schools is no much
better than of the hospitals. Many school buildings consist of
empty class rooms without furniture or educational materials.
Primary school enrollment is sinking to about 50%, with all the
consequences for the future life of children without basic
education. Therefore the government considers as a priority to
halt the decline in educational quality and ensure broad access
to primary education.
Much of this last item has to do with deployment of people in
public service. During the last years of the Mobutu regime they
have seldom or never been payed. By lack of money the new
government has been able to meet only a part of its financial
obligations. To restart public services an injection of foreign
money is necessary.
Given the world-political importance of a steady development of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the quality of the recovery program presented, it is reasonable that the participants of the meeting have decided to agree with the requested financial support.