DRC: government resorts to tax advances from miners to the tune of 141 million USD to fill the budget deficit of December 2020
December has always been a difficult month for public finances as spending is usually high while revenues are limited. Thus, in December 2020, the Ilunkamba government resorted to advances from mining companies for taxes amounting to 262.7 billion CDF (141.846 million USD at the budgetary rate of the Amending Budget of 1852 FC the US dollar. ) to try to curb the realized monthly budget deficit, according to the data of the financial operations of the Treasury account.
Indeed, in December 2020, public spending peaked at CDF 969.8 billion against resources of around CDF 883.5 billion, resulting in a deficit of CDF 86.3 billion, according to the Central Bank.
While the monthly deficit in December was covered by budget support from the IMF and the ADB, the level of resources was supported by additional resources including those drawn from the Mining Fund for CDF 50.0 billion and advances received from mining under taxes for CDF 262.7 billion. Without these additional resources assessed in total at CDF 312.7 billion, the budget deficit for December would be much larger.
For the whole of 2020, the execution of the State’s financial operations resulted, according to the Central Bank of Congo, in a “significant” deficit of 1,051.1 billion CDF (548.1 million USD) against 592 , 5 billion CDF (354.3 million USD) in 2019.
“This deficit was financed, apart from the advances from the BCC of CDF 320.5 billion covering the period from January to April, by budget support from the IMF and ADB to the tune of CDF 713.6 billion including CDF 19.0 billion. were used to repay part of the Treasury bills, ”specifies the issuing institute in its press release released on Friday January 22 following the 12th meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee.
Revenues mobilized throughout the year 2020 are estimated at 7,019.9 billion CDF (3.790 billion USD at the rate of the Budgetary Collective of 1852 FC the US dollar) against forecasts of the PTR (Cash Plan) of 7,385.8 billion CDF, or an achievement rate of 95%.
As for the annual expenditures during the year 2020, they were executed to the tune of CDF 8,011.7 billion (USD 4.325 billion) against a forecast of PTR of CDF 7,930.3 billion, i.e. an execution rate of 101% .
The financial resources mobilized in 2020 are below both the initial 2020 budget estimated at 11.2 billion USD and the rectified budget set at 5.7 billion USD.
