Financial messaging: withdrawal of funds in dollars conditional on 30% in CF

Kinshasa, April 4^th, 2025, (CPA) – The withdrawal of funds in US dollars deposited in a mobile bank has been made conditional on 30% in the currency of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in order to stimulate its use in commercial transactions, according to an operator in this sector, in an interview with the CPA on Thursday in Kinshasa. ‘A lot of money is withdrawn in dollars from mobile banks. However, we Mpesa financial messaging operators require our customers to withdraw 70% in US dollars and 30% in local currency in order to encourage consumption and savings in Congolese francs,’ said Franck Muteb, president of the Association of economic operators working in Mpesa shops.  He pointed out that savers were taking refuge in foreign currency to keep the value of their funds on deposit, given that the local currency was constantly depreciating on the foreign exchange market. At present, he said, the Congolese franc is stable on the foreign exchange market, which allows them to find a bit of a foothold in their business. ‘All the withdrawals in US dollars reduce their interest and they have the impression that they are working for free on behalf of Vodacom’.  ‘We have also noticed a sort of stability in the national currency for some time. This has had a positive impact on our business. When the rate goes up, there are those who make losses. But we’re breathing a little easier these days,’ he said. Franck Muteb also deplored the targeted killings and assassinations of which resellers of financial messaging services have been victims recently.  ‘We’re even beginning to be afraid of anyone who comes into the shop.  We now suspect everyone, young and old, who comes to ask for our services, especially at night’, he lamented. Insecurity in the currency exchange sector in the shops, he said, is a permanent threat to the young people who manage by creating these temporary jobs that enable them to survive while fighting mass unemployment in the DRC.  He pointed out that, to deal with the insecurity, almost all the shops are currently barricaded by anti-thieves to protect the exchange funds, while deploring the serious problem of untimely power cuts, which also puts retailers in poor working conditions. This phenomenon, he concluded, has a negative impact on business.  On behalf of his members, he called on both the national and provincial governments, through the Ministry of the Interior, Security and Customary Affairs, to study the mechanisms that could contribute to the definitive eradication of insecurity in Kinshasa, and to put out of action all these roaming criminals who attack peaceful citizens and the economic activities that are the foundation of all development. ACP/