The market for cobalt, which is one of the elements needed in the production of electric batteries, is increasing in importance and demand globally. Key players in this market include the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which maintains a large share of world reserves, and China, which plays...

The Democratic Republic of Congo is committed to achieving Universal Health Care by 2030. Progress toward this goal faces challenges due to limitations in the execution and allocation of the country's health budget. This contributes to health spending being predominantly financed by households...

The Republic of Congo, a country with extensive tropical forests and low deforestation rates, needs to balance export-driven development, especially through timber production, and sustainable forest management. Despite national commitments to conserve and restore forests, such efforts remain...

The authorities have requested a three-month extension of the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement set to expire on January 20, 2025. The three-year arrangement was approved by the Executive Board on January 21, 2022, with access of SDR 324.0 million (200 percent of quota). The extension...

The authorities have requested a new ECF-supported program, to deepen reforms undertaken under the previous program (completed in July 2024). They have also requested a program under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF)

Le Rapport sur la situation économique de la République démocratique du Congo examine la performance récente du pays en matière de croissance ainsi que ses politiques macroéconomiques, offrant ainsi une base pour le dialogue avec le gouvernement et les autres parties prenantes. La...

The existential catastrophe faced by the population of the Gaza Strip currently looms large in the foreign policy and security debates. The plight of civilians there is par­ticularly acute. Yet, severe crises persist elsewhere too - from Ukraine and Sudan to Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of...

In this article, I offer a historical analysis of how bankers in Luxembourg came to be important service providers to borrowers in the Belgian Congo and Apartheid South Africa. I demonstrate how a series of unique political and cultural factors linking Luxembourg and these two (neo)colonial...

Understanding future demands of water, energy, and food (WEF) resources is essential to achieve sustainable management of these resources. Based on a survey of 90 households, this study provides an analysis of household water, energy, and food security for the city of Goma, Democratic Republic...

Balán et al. (2022) evaluate the impact of "local elites" involvement in local tax collection in a large city in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Using a randomized controlled trial to vary the identities of tax collectors, they find that local elites' involvement raises tax compliance and...

The aim of this study is to assess the effect of informal employment on the occurrence of overeducation in developing countries, focusing on the specific case of the DRC. Using employment data, we determine the incidence of overeducation and we isolate the role of informal employment as a...

President Félix Tshisekedi was re-elected in December 2023 and a new Prime Minister was appointed on April 1, 2024, and the government on May 28. Meanwhile, the security situation in the East is deteriorating, exacerbating a humanitarian crisis that has displaced millions of people and...

The paper introduces a semi-structural Quarterly Projection Model (QPM) tailored for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), highlighting its resource richness and high degree of dollarization. We provide an overview of the model's specifications to elucidate key features of the DRC economy...

There are still a number of UN arms embargoes in place to prevent the flow of arms and military material into conflict zones. Although the UN Security Council is not generally deadlocked on this issue, it has only taken relevant decisions to re-design the embargoes in a few cases over the last...

Timor-Leste has made impressive progress since independence in 2002 but remains a fragile post-conflict nation with pressing development needs. With oil and gas production having recently come to a halt, progress on diversifying the economy and developing the private sector is urgently needed....

The Country Opinion Survey in Republic of Congo assists the World Bank Group (WBG) in better understanding how stakeholders in Republic of Congo perceive the WBG. It provides the WBG with systematic feedback from national and local governments, multilateral and bilateral agencies, media,...

This paper uses a pooled dataset of the 2007 and 2014 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) to establish the empirical linkages between infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices and children's nutritional status in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The paper examines all the recommended...

Timor-Leste has made impressive progress since independence but remains a fragile post-conflict nation with an under-diversified private sector. The economy remains highly dependent on the public sector, which has been financed primarily by proceeds from the Petroleum Fund, in which the state...

Drawing from a growing body of literature on development aid in fragile contexts, this paper investigates the effectiveness of COVID-19 aid in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The paper uses the OECD's Principles for Good International Engagement in Fragile States and Situations to...

Within the field of economics, despite being widespread, African traditional religions tend to be perceived as unimportant and ignored when studying economic decision-making. This study tests whether this presumption is correct. Using daily data on business decisions and performance of beer...

Background: Current standard management of severe acute malnutrition uses ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) at an increasing dosage as the child’s weight increases during recovery. Using RUTF at a gradually reduced dosage as the child recovers could optimise costs while achieving similar...

Using data from the DRC Demographic and Health Survey, this study examines the empirical linkages between access to agricultural land and nutritional outcomes by examining gender differences. Results suggest significant effects of access to agricultural land on nutritional outcomes in the full...

This Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) aims to support DRC's efforts to achieve its development goals within a changing climate by quantifying the impacts of climate change on the economy and highlighting policies and interventions needed to strengthen the country's climate...

This paper presents a coping strategy that small-scale cross-border traders adopted in response to the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic and examines its impact. Using a cross-sectional data set of 1,159 traders from the borderlands of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, the paper assesses...

Economic Diversification in the DRC is hindered by a business environment and key regulatory and fiscal constraints that are not conducive to private sector-led growth. Policies aimed to address the main bottlenecks hindering sustainable and inclusive growth include: i) improving business...

The Republic of Congo (RoC) CCDR is a new World Bank core diagnostic report that integrate climate change and development considerations. It is intended to help the country prioritize the most impactful actions that can boost adaptation and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while delivering...

This paper presents Democratic Republic of the Congo's Fifth Review under the Extended Credit Facility, Requests for Modification of Quantitative Performance Criteria, Waivers of Nonobservance of Performance Criteria, and Financing Assurances Review. The Democratic Republic of the Congo's growth...

This paper presents Republic of Congo's Third Review under the Three-Year Arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility, Requests for Modification of Performance Criteria, Waivers of Nonobservance of Performance Criteria, and Financing Assurances Review. Strengthened economic recovery remains...