The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to a three-year loan facility with the Congo Republic with conditions that the government in Brazzaville will implement some reforms. Since 2017, the country had been in talks with the international lender to get the facility on the basis that they are doing enough to tackle national debt and corruption.
The government found a way to reduce its mostly crippling debt of, $2 billion to China. This eventually convinced the IMF to wade in. The agreed measures include submitting a report to the nation’s lawmakers on bad oil loans that the state petroleum company has taken out with private banks.
The IMF mission also states that Congo’s economy is projected to grow more than 5 percent in 2019, up from less than 1 percent in 2018, mainly because of an expected rise in oil production and prices. This could bring in more investors to the Central African country. 2014, the economy was hurt by a sharp drop in oil prices, causing debt levels to balloon to 118 percent of GDP in 2017. In the first five months of 2019, last month oil prices hit their highest level, helping Congo cut debt levels to less than 85 percent of GDP.
