From Tuesday June 18 to Wednesday June 19, 2024, Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), hosted the work of the 26th meeting of the AFRITAC Center Steering Committee. Organized in a hybrid format, this meeting gave delegates from the 9 member countries the opportunity to examine the issues of “Public Finance Management and Climate Change”. At the end of these meetings, Mr. Jean-Baptiste ONDAYE, Minister of Economy and Finance of Congo-Brazzaville, was appointed current President of the said Committee for the two fiscal years which have just opened (2024-2026 ).

Taking witness to the exercise of his mandate, on June 19, 2024, following his counterpart from the DRC, Mr. Doudou FWAMBA LIKUNDE, the new President of the AFRITAC Center Steering Committee, declared that “at moment when we take the baton with a view to continuing our common work, as current President of the AFRITAC Center Steering Committee, for the two fiscal years which have just opened, I would hasten to pay tribute to the results how commendable that the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has just accomplished.

Drawing on this rich and edifying experience, we place our mandate under the sign of continuity and consolidation of acquired knowledge. We assure each other of our total availability to support the Center in carrying out its missions, particularly in the implementation of its Work Program during our mandate.”

The issues of “public finance management and climate change”, discussed in Kinshasa

In his opening speech to this meeting, on June 18, 2024, the Minister of Finance of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mr. Doudou FWAMBA LIKUNDE, highlighted “the multiple impacts of climate change which enormously weaken economies. of the Member States”. He also noted “the importance of continued collaboration between States, to meet current macroeconomic challenges”, before launching “a call for the diversification of new sources”.

Addressing, in turn, the opening forum of this meeting, Mr. Jean-Baptiste ONDAYE, Minister of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Congo (RC), indicated that the essential issue of this meeting in Kinshasa was to examine the modalities of access to the Resilience and Sustainability Fund (FRD). To this end, he indicated some ways out of the crisis, while highlighting certain difficulties along the way.

“Our countries are already trying to create room for budgetary maneuver, both in terms of revenue and expenditure, to meet priority investments. In terms of spending, we are making considerable efforts, particularly within the framework of Programs supported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), by increasing social spending thanks to savings made following the reduction of fuel price subsidies.

Furthermore, the debt service burden, aggravated by the rise in interest rates, remains a significant constraint on our public finances. More rapid progress in debt resolution is still awaited, particularly under the Common Framework of the Group of 20 most industrialized countries (G20). Debt processing processes remain slow; they should therefore be accelerated to free up budgetary resources, in order to better respond to priorities, including climate change.

However, given the narrowness of budgetary resources compared to needs, the international community should intensify cooperation between all stakeholders, namely: States, Technical and Financial Partners (PTF) and the Private Sector, with a view to to promote resilience and adaptation to climate shocks. To achieve this, public and private funding remains below expectations. If the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (FRD), set up by the IMF, is a step in the right direction, its access remains restricted. Because several of our countries are still waiting to access it. Furthermore, based on the experience of the few countries that have benefited from it to date, we need more visibility as to the role that this Facility can play, with a view to catalyzing other financing for our Climate strategies. '', particularly from the Private Sector.

We therefore urge the IMF to accelerate our countries' access to the Resilience and Sustainability Facility, which offers eligible and qualified countries concessional, long-term support for efforts to strengthen their resilience, with amortization of the 20-year financing, a significant 5-year grace period, and relatively low interest rates. We aspire to this funding.Because our sub-region is full of significant environmental wealth, as a viable response to climate change,” explained the Monetary Authority of Congo-Brazzaville.

Note that AFRITAC Center is one of the five regional centers of the IMF in Africa, which help member countries to resolve their macroeconomic difficulties, in coordination with the headquarters of this international financial institution of Bretton Woods and the various Development Partners (PAD ). The 9 member countries of AFRITAC Central are: the Republic of Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, the Gabonese Republic, the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Chad, the Republic of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Sao Tome and Principe

The Communication Unit of the Ministry of Economy and Finance

Photo credit: B2B Communication