DRC’s Trade Shows Resilience with Increased Surplus
Trade between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the rest of the world demonstrated resilience, recording a 2.39% increase by the end of March 2024 compared to the same period last year. Data from the Central Bank of Congo (BCC) as of April 12, 2024, revealed this positive trend.
The trade balance exhibited a surplus of $4,515.53 billion USD, marking a significant increase from the $627.42 million USD achieved in March 2023. This surplus represents a notable 6.05% rise compared to the previous year’s 0.93%.
In 2023, global economic slowdown and declining commodity prices led to a 4.26% decrease in trade volume between the DRC and the rest of the world compared to 2022. Despite this, the trade balance showed a surplus of $16.70 billion USD, up from $11.37 billion USD recorded in 2022.
Relative to GDP, the 2023 surplus represented 1.47%, slightly lower than the 1.54% recorded in 2022. Cumulative exports in 2023 were valued at $26.5 billion USD, while imports were estimated at $25.5 billion USD, underscoring the DRC’s ongoing engagement in global trade.
