Kinshasa, September 1st, 2021 (CPA).- The Minister of Finance, Nicolas Kazadi, on a working stay in Germany, exchanged views on Friday August 27th by videoconference with the American Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Eric Meyer, on the issue of the fight against corruption and money laundering in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the CPA learned Tuesday from the Ministry of Finance.
According to the source, the Minister of Finance informed his interlocutor of the government’s ambition to improve the ratio of public revenue to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) compared to the level of other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, by exploiting the fiscal potential of the country, adding that the objective is for the country’s revenue / GDP ratio to exceed the 12.2% initially targeted by 2023 (compared to 8.7% in 2020).
In the 2nd quarter of the current year, revealed Nicolas Kazadi to Eric Meyer, internal tax revenues increased by 25% on average compared to the last 5 (five) years, thanks to the signing of contracts performance measures sealed with the financial authorities to improve tax revenue by 15%, in order to strongly support the ambitions of the revenue-to-GDP ratio.
He stressed the importance of having a transparent framework in place, and the need to diversify the country’s economy beyond mining, by targeting quality investments, not forgetting the appeal that the government launched to the private sector for the rapid establishment of an Investment Fund for the diversification of the economy, a call, he added, which has already started to generate tangible commitments from partners from the private sector.
Nicolas Kazadi informed the US Under-Secretary of State of the government’s ongoing initiative to create a national financial institution dedicated to development, which has received support from several bilateral and multilateral donors.
This will involve, he explained, financing and implementing development projects under the best conditions of consistency, efficiency and transparency. This institution could be a bank or a development agency, whose mission would be to help build the country’s capacity in the long term.
The American treasury anxious to help the DRC
The same source indicates that for his part, the American Assistant Under-Secretary of the Treasury Eric Meyer has been very receptive and anxious to assist the DRC in these new innovative initiatives, as well as with regard to the improvement of transparency and efficiency in the fight against corruption and money laundering, not to mention tax reforms.
Mr. Meyer took the opportunity to congratulate the DRC for the structural reforms already undertaken and which are producing tangible results, in particular the renewed relationship with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which resulted in the extended credit facility of 1,500,000,000. (One billion five hundred million) USD to support economic growth and strengthen the country’s reserves.
This meeting, which was only introductory, will lead to other meetings to strengthen the partnership between the DRC’s Ministry of Finance and the US Treasury Department, it is recalled. ACP/