Congo Brazzaville: Economic Growth To Drop By 16% In 2020 Due To COVID-19

The economic growth of the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) has been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as growth is envisaged to drop by between 12 per cent and 16 per cent in 2020.

The country’s Minister of the Economy, Industry and Public Portfolio, Gilbert Ondongo made the revelation recently during the 10th meeting of the National Coordination for the Management of the Coronavirus Pandemic. 

The meeting was organized by visioconference under the patronage of President Denis Sassou-N’Guesso.

According to the minister, since the onset of the sanitary crisis, economic activities in the country have dropped by 16.5 per cent. 

He added that with the envisaged plans for the re-launching of economic activities, the negative impact of the pandemic on the living conditions of the populations would be mitigated.

Minister Ondongo revealed that the plan envisages among other things, the orderly execution of the accord with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a mid-term economic and financial programme (2019-2020) which would lead to positive growth by 2021 through budgetary incentives that would bring about demand for goods and services once again.

Among other aspects of the plan are the acceleration of the entering into vigour or the putting into place of big structural reforms that would accompany economic and social development and launch the big structural projects envisaged.

Meanwhile, the Congo Brazzaville ministerial council has already approved the elaboration and putting into place of the sectorial political programmes on agriculture, industry and tourism.