While Kamoa-Kakula made the mining headlines, the Treasury’s own ledger showed where the domestic economy gets its cash.

By Kanisa Magazine · May 2021

By 28 May the Congolese state had collected CDF 4,540 billion in 2021 and spent CDF 3,921 billion, leaving a cash surplus of CDF 618 billion. Of that spending, 57 per cent went on pay and 0.3 per cent on capital projects.

The figures are in the Treasury table of the BCC weekly digest of 28 May. They describe the economy that sits beside the mines: the revenue the state collects from business and trade, and the wages and contracts that return through households and suppliers.

At about CDF 1,989 per dollar the receipts equal US$2.28 billion, and the capital line equals US$5.6 million.

Where the money came from

The tax office brought in 55 per cent of receipts, and it grew fastest in May.

The tax directorate, the DGI, had collected CDF 2,517 billion by 28 May, 55 per cent of the total. It added CDF 613 billion in four weeks, up from CDF 1,904 billion on 29 April, a rise of 32 per cent. Customs and excise, the DGDA, stood at CDF 1,018 billion, 22 per cent. The administrative revenue directorate, the DGRAD, stood at CDF 724 billion, 16 per cent. Oil revenue stood at CDF 85 billion, unchanged in May.

Altogether, receipts rose by CDF 981 billion in the month. The customs line is the one most directly tied to imports and therefore to household and business spending.

Where it went

Pay absorbed 57 per cent of spending, and capital projects almost nothing.

Remuneration reached CDF 2,231 billion. Civil servants other than the army and police accounted for CDF 1,904 billion of it, the army CDF 184 billion and the police CDF 143 billion. Operating costs were CDF 614 billion, debt service CDF 238 billion and the urgent-spending category CDF 438 billion. Capital spending was CDF 11.1 billion, unchanged from the figure a month earlier.

The Treasury also repaid CDF 167.5 billion of bills and bonds and raised CDF 158.5 billion through them, close to a wash.

How a payroll becomes a market

Wages paid through banks become retail demand within days, which makes the state the largest domestic customer.

A civil-service wage is paid into a bank account or a wallet, withdrawn in cash, and spent at market stalls, shops, taxi stands, schools and clinics. A wage bill of CDF 1,904 billion in five months is the closest thing the domestic economy has to a guaranteed order book.

The flow also explains something in the liquidity data. When the Treasury collects taxes from companies, bank balances at the BCC fall, and when it pays wages they refill. The sharp swings in banks’ reserve accounts during May may reflect these two flows.

Contrast that with the mining headline. International Mining reported on 26 May that Kamoa-Kakula had put first ore into its concentrator on 20 May. The state holds 20 per cent of the project, but the mine’s dollars will arrive later, as export proceeds and taxes, rather than as wages in Kinshasa’s markets.

A new cabinet and a thin capital line

Ministers named in April inherit a budget that pays people first and builds later.

The government published on 12 April put Nicolas Kazadi at Finance and Aimé Boji at Budget, with agriculture, infrastructure and digital technology among its stated priorities. The ledger shows how much of each is financed so far. Capital spending of CDF 11.1 billion in five months is too small to carry a priority list.

What this means for suppliers and sellers

Sell where wages land and track the capital line before bidding on public work.

A consumer-goods seller, a telecom reseller or a school-supplies distributor should plan around the payroll calendar and the districts where civil servants, soldiers and police live. A contractor chasing public works should treat the capital line as the test of whether the cabinet’s programme has funds behind it.

The next checkpoint is simple. If capital spending moves from CDF 11 billion toward the hundreds of billions in the June and July tables, public contracts are real. If it stays flat, the opportunity remains the payroll.