Economy:
The DRC is a country of vast-natural wealth, but the lack of infrastructure and political stability has sharply curtailed the country’s economic development and its per capita GDP is just $300. The economy imploded with the Congo Wars (1998-2002) that resulted in the deaths of 3.8 million people, half of them children, and have led to an estimated one million more deaths since in periodic upheavals of fighting, disease, starvation and malnutrition, and more. Some 1.1 million people live with HIV/AIDS, which has killed over 100,000. The infant mortality rate is 14 times that of the U.S.
President Kabila succeeded his assassinated father in 2001, then captured 45 percent of the vote in elections in June 2006 and won runoff elections in October. Violence erupts periodically, particularly in the eastern part of DRC. The UN has 17,000 peacekeeping troops in DRC.
The global recession cut economic growth in 2009 to half its 2008 level, but donor assistance and diligence on the part of the central bank have brought foreign exchange reserves to their highest levels in 25 years after a financial crisis caused reserves to plummet in early 2009.
The New York Times (March 28, 2007) said, "Congo is spread across more than 900,000 square miles, but it has only 300 miles of paved roads. The lack of infrastructure keeps the people poor." Farmers cannot get crops to market. "There's only so much you can carry on your head," said one governor.
Climate for microfinance:
• Much economic activity occurs in the informal sector, where small entrepreneurs provide goods and services that have largely gone unreported.
• With one of Africa’s largest microenterprise populations, there is huge demand in the DRC for microcredit.
• Microfinance is an integral part of the very limited financial system.
• The DRC has a positive regulatory environment, with the Central Bank working in conjunction with FINCA DRC and other MFIs in the country on regulatory issues.
FINCA Democratic Republic of Congo (Founded 2003)
FINCA DRC is a regulated and deposit-taking microfinance institution, which permits it to better support the economic and human development of Congolese families trapped in poverty. The program has five branches in the Bas Congo region to the West and the Copper Belt Region in the South.
FINCA DRC expanded client outreach by 22.3 percent in 2009, putting loan capital into the hands of 44,532 clients through a loan portfolio of $10.4 million. The program disbursed $33.1 million in loans averaging $337. Clients have accumulated nearly $4.2 million in savings, an amount which should grow exponentially, thanks to a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to scale up savings services in DRC, Uganda and Ecuador.
FINCA DRC offers two credit products, which include individual and village banking loan products for urban and peri-urban markets for working capital and business improvement, and two savings products. |
Meet Marie-Claire Bunga: The Singing Shopkeeper
FINCA DRC
Clients: 75,235
Village Banking groups: 4,152
Average loan: $353
On-time repayment: 98.1%
Loans outstanding: $18,617,007
Geography: The DRC is nearly one-fourth the size of the United States. It borders the Central African Republic, Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, and the Republic of the Congo.
Population: 68.7 million
Ethnicities: over 200 African ethnic groups of which the majority are Bantu
Religions: Catholic 50%, Protestant 20%, Kimbanguist 10%, Muslim 10%, other 10%
Average life expectancy: 54.4 years
Median age: 16.4 years
Literacy: 67.2 percent
Government: Republic, transitional contested rule.
* Program information is updated on a monthly basis from reports from the field.
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P 202.682.1510