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Viewing cable 06KINSHASA890, DRC MAY MONTHLY ECONOMIC REVIEW

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06KINSHASA890 2006-06-05 16:24 2011-08-25 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Kinshasa
VZCZCXRO8189
RR RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMR
DE RUEHKI #0890/01 1561624
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 051624Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4048
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KINSHASA 000890 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL/IL-LHOST AND AF/RSA-MHARPOLE 
 
E.O.  12958:N/A 
TAGS: ECON EFIN ENRG ELAB EAIR EMIN ETRD PGOV CG
SUBJECT: DRC MAY MONTHLY ECONOMIC REVIEW 
 
 
-------------- 
1. (U) Summary 
-------------- 
 
- IMF team visits DRC to put a Staff Monitored Program (SMP) 
in place and to assess situation since the end of the PRGF 
program. 
 
- DRC public hospital physicians launch a general strike 
while some government enterprises face possible strikes. 
 
- DRC Minister of labor and head of the DRC's main trade 
union attend the ILO meeting in Geneva. 
 
- UK/SA company buys 20 percent of DRC state diamond mining 
company; First Quantum International opens Katanga 
affiliate. 
 
- GDRC Council of Ministers approves a degree to create a 
public agency for copyright protection. 
 
- SEP-Congo denounces damage to and robbery of petroleum 
products from its fuel pipeline. 
 
- Asea, Brown, and Bovery (ABB) Group wins contract to bring 
electricity to the Kasai provinces. 
 
- City of Kinshasa launches a public transport company. 
 
- DRC Airport Authority introduces the Global Navigation 
System (GNSS) in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi. 
 
- The Congolese franc depreciates slightly, and the 
inflation rate rises. 
 
- Central Bank takes action to counter depreciation and 
inflation trends. 
 
--------------------------- 
IMF Staff Monitored Program 
--------------------------- 
 
2. (U) The IMF's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility 
(PRGF) for the DRC lapsed on March 31, 2006.  An IMF team 
from Washington was in Kinshasa May 27 to June 1 to work out 
with Congolese authorities final details on the 
establishment of an IMF Staff Monitored Program (SMP). 
Discussions about the creation of an SMP began during the 
recent spring IMF/WB meetings in Washington. The SMP, which 
will remain in place for a minimum of six months, gives the 
DRC the opportunity to continue to receive IMF technical 
support as it seeks to show progress in macroeconomic 
stability and structural reform sufficient to negotiate a 
new formal IMF program, ideally before the end of 2006. 
 
---------------------------- 
Labor: Strike Threats Abound 
---------------------------- 
 
3. (U) Congolese physicians launched a general strike in 
Kinshasa's public hospitals on May 8, and were providing 
only minimum and emergency services.  The doctors have 
demanded a wage increase and the payment of salary arrears. 
On May 29, SYNAMED, the doctors' union, raised the strike to 
the next level by reducing provision of minimum services to 
two of eleven hospitals in the capital on a rotating daily 
basis.  Patients who entered the eleven hospitals before the 
strike began will continue to be treated.  SYNAMED says that 
the next step, possibly as early as the week of June 5, will 
be to further reduce minimal care.  The union has threatened 
drastic action if no resolution is reached within two or 
three weeks, and speculation is that this would be a 
complete work stoppage. 
 
4. (U) On May 8, the employees of ONATRA, the state river 
and railroad transport company, threatened a 48-hour strike 
unless they were paid their salaries for the months of March 
and April 2006.  On May 30, 12,000 thousand employees 
nationwide, represented by 25 unions, obtained a salary 
increase of USD 20 per month.  The action union said that 
the increase was insufficient and threatened to call for 
another strike. 
 
5. (U)  On May 10 and 11, employees of the Ministries of 
Finance and Budget threatened to strike for a wage increase 
 
KINSHASA 00000890  002 OF 003 
 
 
claimed since January 19, 2006 by the six unions 
representing the workers. 
 
6. (U) On May 11, the employees of the Independent Electoral 
Commission offices in Mbandaka, Gemena, and Gbadolite 
demonstrated and then sacked their offices to claim payment 
of their salary arrears. 
 
7. (U) On 12 May, former employees of the state mining 
company GECAMINES, terminated 13 years ago and expelled to 
their native provinces of Kasai, demonstrated in Mbuji-Mayi, 
to claim payment of their severance pay. 
 
8. (U) On May 22, employees of the DRC state electricity 
company SNEL in Kisangani threatened a strike to obtain 
payment of two months of salary arrears. 
 
9. (U) Mr. Balamage Nkolo, DRC Minister of Transport and Mr. 
Symphorien Dunia, the President of the Confederation 
Syndicale du Congo (CSC), the leading trade union, are 
attending the International Labor Organization (ILO) 
conference from May 31 to June 16 in Geneva.  The GDRC did 
not fund participation in the conference by delegates from 
three other leading unions due to lack of resources.  The 
CSC was funded for this conference by its Belgian partners. 
 
------ 
Mining 
------ 
 
10. (U) Mwana Africa, a mining company registered in the 
U.K. with a branch in South Africa, bought the 20 percent of 
shares of MIBA held by SIBEKA, a Belgian company.  MIBA is 
the Congolese state diamond mining company based in Mbuji- 
Mayi. 
 
11. (U) First Quantum International, a Canadian mining 
group, opened a new affiliate, Frontier Mining, in Sakania, 
Katanga province, near the DRC - Zambia border. 
 
--------------------- 
Intellectual Property 
--------------------- 
 
12.  (U) At the Council of Ministers meeting of May 22-23, 
the GDRC approved a draft decree to create a public agency 
for copyright protection.  The agency will be called the 
National Office for Copyright Management, (ONADA). It is 
expected that this agency will replace the current SONECA. 
The SONECA chief told Econ FSN that further discussions will 
be held at the Ministry of Culture and Art prior to 
finalizing this decree. 
 
------ 
Energy 
------ 
 
13. (U) SEP-Congo, a state enterprise that specializes in 
the storage and transport of petroleum products, has 
denounced the looting of petroleum products from its fuel 
pipeline between Matadi and Kinshasa. 
 
14.  (U) The Asea, Brown, and Bovery (ABB) Group has won a 
contract to transmit electricity from the Inga-Shaba power 
line for distribution in the two Kasai provinces of central 
DRC.  Despite their large populations and location along the 
power line that links the hydroelectric plants of Inga with 
the copper industry in Katanga, East and West Kasai 
provinces have drawn no electricity from the line in the 
past.  Total project costs are estimated at USD 140 million. 
 
---------------- 
Public Transport 
---------------- 
 
15. (U) The Kinshasa Mayor's Office, with funding provided 
from the central government, is acquiring more buses for 
public transport.  Meanwhile, the GDRC is starting up a new 
public transport company, called the Urban Transport Company 
of Kinshasa (STUK), using buses donated by the Indian 
government.  Beginning with about 200 buses, one company 
official estimated that the city needs at least 2000 buses 
to adequately serve its population. 
 
-------- 
 
KINSHASA 00000890  003 OF 003 
 
 
Aviation 
-------- 
 
16. (U) The DRC Airport Authority (RVA) has launched a 
Global Navigation System for air traffic control.  The 
system will first be used at the country's two largest 
airports, in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi. 
 
--------------------- 
Inflation Up Slightly 
--------------------- 
 
17. (U) Post's market-basket survey indicates an inflation 
rate of 2.6 percent for the month of May.  The year-to-date 
inflation now stands at 3.0 percent. This latest jump in 
inflation is due primarily to increases in transportation 
costs.  Gasoline costs rose recently from 441 Congolese 
francs per liter (USD 3.75 per gallon) to 460 Congolese 
francs per liter (USD 3.90 per gallon) and, despite GDRC 
price controls on the cost of bus trips, drivers have 
shortened their routes, making passengers transfer more 
often and pay multiple fares. 
 
------------------------ 
Congo Franc Depreciates 
------------------------ 
 
18. (U) The Congolese franc depreciated by 2.5 percent 
during the last weeks of May 2006, partly due to the 
resumption of high levels of public finance expenditures in 
April.  (Public expenditures and salary payments, now made 
preferentially in Congolese francs, were at low levels 
during the first quarter of 2006 while the 2006 budget was 
still being finalized and promulgated.) 
 
19. (U) In response to the depreciation of the Congolese 
franc and higher inflation for the month of May, the Central 
Bank of the Congo (BCC) injected USD 6 million from its 
reserves onto the exchange market and it increased the 
interest rates on the credit market from 25 percent to 28.5 
percent.  Bank Governor Masangu said that he hoped that 
these actions would reduce the amount of Congolese currency 
in circulation and calm in the exchange market. 
 
-------------- 
Exchange Rates 
-------------- 
 
20. (U) Week ending      4/29      5/5       5/19      5/31 
 
CENTRAL BANK RATES:      439       440       450       446 
PARALLEL MARKETS: 
KINSHASA                 435       440       450       450 
LUBUMBASHI               440       445       445       425 
MBUJIMAYI                440       440       445       445 
KISANGANI                440       440       440       440 
GOMA                     440       450       450       450 
BUKAVU                   440       450       450       450