Recent economic developments in the Republic of Congo have been favorable. Growth in the last 5 years has averaged about 5 percent per year, higher than in regional peers. The country’s debt situation improved markedly as a result of the 2010 HIPC/MDRI debt relief. Gross oil revenue averaged more than US$8 billion per year in 2012 and 2013, equivalent to about 60 percent of GDP. Substantial fiscal savings have been set aside by virtue of the prevailing high international oil prices. This ambitious public investment program aims to address large social and infrastructure gaps, diversify the economy, and put Congo on a path to becoming an emerging market economy. Partly as a result of this, the government spending to non-oil GDP ratio is now among the highest of oil exporting countries in Africa and the Middle East despite relatively limited oil reserves. Congo reached “compliant” status under the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) in February 2013. The poverty rate amounted to 46.5 percent in 2011. This is down from 50.7 percent in 2005 but is still higher than Congo’s 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDG) target of 35 percent, and higher than in countries with similar per capita GDP and similar to other SSA countries with significantly lower income. Other social indicators also remain areas of concern, particularly in education and health.

The authorities’ latest employment survey estimates the unemployment rate at about 10 percent in 2012 following the International Labor Organization definition, while a broader definition that includes discouraged job seekers puts the figure at 19.7 percent. Enhanced coordination of policies and monitoring are needed to make growth inclusive and to strengthen structural reform policies. Macroeconomic developments in 2013 were broadly satisfactory. Growth fell to 3.3 percent in 2013, on declining oil production from aging oil wells. Non-oil growth continued to be buoyed by favorable developments in the agriculture, construction, and services sectors. Inflation decelerated to 2.1 percent in December 2013 (y/y), down from 7.5 percent a year earlier, aided by lower food prices and CFA franc appreciation against the U.S. dollar.