DR Congo: New Government Floats $92.2 billion Five Year Development Plan

By Badylon Kawanda Bakiman

After several days of negotiations, the new government led by Judith Suminwa Tuluka as Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was finally sworn in this Wednesday, June 12, 2024 at 2:00 a.m., following the motion to approve the government read by Jacques Ndjoli, rapporteur of the Lower House of Parliament. 

It took the Congolese 11 hours of debate to reach this long-awaited result. The new government will take office six months after President Tshisekedi's inauguration in January 2024.

Before the government was sworn in, 397 of the 405 deputies present voted to approve the government's program, which was presented by the Prime Minister, who only took 30 minutes to respond to the concerns of the national deputies.

It should be noted that the Suminwa government's action program presented to the people's elected representatives is valued at 92.9 billion US dollars over 5 years.

"This timetable will be fully financed by state and non-state resources, from central government and the provinces, as well as from the Decentralized Territorial Entities," the Prime Minister said.

She also presented the budget breakdown for this action program in relation to the various pillars deemed to be priorities for the DRC's emergence:

30% for pillar 1 (creating more jobs and protecting household purchasing power) with a total cumulative cost of 83.1 thousand billion Congolese francs over the 5 years of the Program, i.e. an average of 16.6 thousand billion Congolese francs per year;

25% for pillar 3 (Developing the national territory for maximum connectivity). This represents a total cumulative cost of 69.3 thousand billion Congolese francs over the 5 years of the program, or an average of 13.8 thousand billion Congolese francs per year;

20% for Pillar 2 (Protecting the national territory and securing the population and its property). This proportion corresponds to 55.4 thousand billion Congolese francs over the 5 years of the program, or an average of 11.0 thousand billion Congolese francs per year;

15% for Pillar 4 (Guaranteeing access to basic social services). This proportion indicates a total cumulative cost of 41.6 thousand billion Congolese francs for the 5 years of the program, i.e. an average of 8.3 thousand billion per year;

5% for Pillar 5 (Strengthening the efficiency of public services). This percentage indicates that the total cumulative cost of the actions planned is 13.9 thousand billion over the 5 years of the program, i.e. an envelope of 2.7 thousand billion per year;

5% for pillar 6 (Sustainable and responsible management of the DRC's ecosystem in the face of climate change). This proportion corresponds to an estimated 13.9 thousand billion Congolese francs over the 5 years of the program, or around 2.7 thousand billion Congolese francs per year.