KINSHASA (Reuters – The Democratic Republic of Congo, which has high commodity prices as well as government reforms that increase finances, is a bright spot in Africa’s economy performance.

After meeting Felix Tshisekedi, Kristalina Georgieva stated that Congo’s economy will grow by 5.4% this year and 6.4% next year.

It is faster than total Sub-Saharan African Growth of 3.7% this Year and 3.8% in 2022.

Georgieva stated that Congo benefits not only from rising commodity prices, but also from reforms pursued by the government and president.

The country is Africa’s top producer of and the world’s leading miner of cobalt, used in the making of electric car batteries. However, the nation’s output has been severely hampered by corruption and mismanagement. The country is now in the grip of poverty.

Tshisekedi is in office since 2019 and has worked to stem the tide of inflation spiralling out of control. He also tried to replenish forex reserves that were depleted under Joseph Kabila.

The reforms included greater autonomy for the central bank, and more efficient collection of revenue.

Congo’s old mining contracts have been published, which were secretly obtained. This has allowed Congo to increase its foreign reserves massively and replace the Central Bank Board and Gecamines state-owned mining company Gecamines.

Georgieva claimed that while the world is still recovering from the devastating effects of the coronavirus outbreak, it has suffered a slowdown in the United States of China.

According to her, the global economy should grow at 5.9% and 4.9% respectively this year.