IMF Board May Discuss Debt Relief for Congo Today Amid Mining Dispute
Democratic Republic of Congo’s bid for billions of dollars in debt relief may be considered by the International Monetary Fund executive board today, the Washington, D.C.-based lender said.
Congo, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary of independence from Belgium today, is trying to qualify for relief under the IMF and World Bank’s Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative. The country’s external debt was $10.9 billion as of March, according to the central bank, as much as 90 percent of which could be erased through the program.
“We are still considering whether the Board meeting will take place Wednesday or not,” the IMF said in an e-mailed statement late yesterday.
The World Bank delayed a decision on the debt relief yesterday at the request of Canada, Reuters reported today, citing an unidentified official on the bank’s board. In November, Canadian finance officials delayed a similar decision by the Paris Club of Congo’s creditor nations because of a contract dispute over Vancouver-based First Quantum Minerals Ltd.’s Kolwezi copper and cobalt project.
Congo canceled the project in August after a global review of its mining contracts. The company has taken the case to international arbitration.
Canadian Concerns
Canada remains concerned about the cancellation of mining contracts in Congo and wants the international dispute settlement mechanism to be completed, a spokesman for the Canadian embassy said yesterday, without saying if the government had requested the World Bank to delay its decision.
The bank’s executive board did not address Congo’s debt relief request at a meeting yesterday, a bank spokesman said. The board did discuss a $255 million transport project and a $50 million “for governance and capacity enhancement in the mineral sector,” Francois Gouahinga of the World Bank’s Africa Region External Affairs division said in an e-mail.
Canada raised the issue of First Quantum again last weekend at the G-8 summit in Ontario province. The group called on Congo to “extend urgently the rule of law” and “enhance governance and accountability in the extractive sector” in a June 26 statement.
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael J. Kavanagh in Kinshasa at mkavanagh9@bloomberg.net.
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