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National debt
2023: State debt - 15% of GDP
2017: State debt - 18% of GDP
GDP
2018: $478 per person
Minerals
2022: Rwanda plunders DRC resources for US and EU interests
Armed groups associated with the military and political elites of neighboring countries, primarily Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi, as well as the government of DR Congo itself, are actively fighting for control over local resources in 2022.
The CIG channel reminded that production is underway in DR Congo:
- 70% of the world's cobalt reserves.
- DRC is also the first in Africa (and the third in the world) largest copper producer,
- has the largest deposits of diamonds, gold and such elements as tin, coltan (tantalum), tungsten, which are sometimes referred to as "3T" (tin, tantalum, tungsten), large reserves of lithium.
"3T" - used in all consumer electronics, medical equipment, automotive, aerospace and many other industries.
Coltan is used to make batteries for electric vehicles and mobile phones.
Rare resources are also used in alternative power. Without them, it is impossible to imagine future technologies.
Despite the presence of so many useful ones, minerals the DRC is not engaged in their processing. Instead, an extensive network of intermediaries is engaged in the illegal export of Congolese valuable resources and their subsequent implementation in and Dubai. Hong Kong
International observers regularly note attempts by neighboring countries to destabilize the DRC in order to preserve illegal trafficking in minerals.
Illegal trade explains how, for example, Rwanda has become one of the world's largest exporters of rare minerals despite having few mines of its own.
President Tshisekedi's bet on economic diplomacy did not materialize, as did attempts to at least partially withdraw the mineral market from the "gray" zone.
In February 2024, Felix Tshisekedi criticized the recently signed agreement between Rwanda and the European Union on mining, especially the item concerning the mineral columbite-tantalite (coltan).
Tshisekedi claims that the Rwanda authorities are M23 plundering the DRC's mineral resources, exporting them and with this money "continue their ambitions in Congo."
80% of all explored coltan (columbite-tantalite) reserves are in Africa, mainly in the east of the DRC in the province of North Kivu. And it is in this province that the rebellion of M23 rebels, who have been actively attacking mining mines in the region, has not subsided for more than 10 years.
In the early 2000s, serious restrictions were imposed on the export of columbite-tantalite due to the wars in the east of the DRC and related crimes.
Authorities in Kinshasa often have problems meeting the ever-new requirements of importers, leaving resource exports limited.
Pro-American Rwanda, in turn, does not have such problems, wrote "Fisherman." Due to Tutsi rebels and Congolese speculators, Rwanda is one of the main exporters of columbite-tantalite, despite the lack of rich deposits of this mineral.
At the same time, there are only four coltan processing plants in the world, of which the two largest are located in Germany and the United States. Also, the offices of these companies are located in both DRC and Rwanda.
Since the 2000s, the world media has periodically raised the issue of the resource background of conflicts in the east of the DRC and the participation of Rwanda and its sponsored rebels in the role of a proxy for the United States.
And at the end of 2023, protest movements against the United States, Rwanda and their exploitation of Congolese resources began to gain momentum in the DRC.
The question may be: Why won't the US simply start buying coltan directly from Congo without intermediaries?
The answer is quite simple - Washington does not need the rich columbite-tantalite and other resources of the DRC to strengthen and potentially become one of the major regional players. Moreover, this player can begin to "download the rights" and sell coltan at exorbitant prices, and even to other importers.
And in a modern situation, the United States both buys mineral from the DRC and through Rwandan structures, and maintains a sufficient level of instability in the region so that the valuable resource can be traded cheaply.
In early May 2024, in DR Congo, M23 rebels occupied the city of Rubaya, a coltan mining center (columbite-tantalite).
This happened on the same day that President France Emmanuel Macron called on neighboring Rwanda to stop supporting the M23. Macron made the announcement after talks with DRC President Felix Tshisekedi in. Paris
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the second coltan producer in the world. Most of this fossil comes from mines around Rubaya and the town of Masisi in North Kivu province in eastern DRC.
2023
American and Canadian companies selected for gas field development
The DR Congo government in January 2023 published the names of companies that were selected to develop three gas fields in Lake Kivu in the east of the country.
Of these, RED, a local affiliate of Symbion Power, and Winds Exploration and Production LLC are American companies, while Alfajiri Energy is Canadian. Already in 2023, they should begin to start developing deposits.
Canadians qualify for lithium exploration
In early January 2023, Canadian AJN Resources Inc. received a 75% stake from a Congolese company to explore for a lithium deposit in the city of Lubumbashi in southern DR Congo. Specialists have already begun to conduct reconnaissance. Lithium is used in batteries and batteries, nuclear power, nuclear engineering and many other industries.
2022
Among the top 10 leading countries in the production of critical raw materials
2 million people involved in small-scale mining
US sanctions against Belgian gold trader Alain Goetz
In March 2022, the United States imposed sanctions on Belgian gold trader Alain Goetz and his company African Gold Refinery Ltd., one of the largest metal processors on the continent, for allegedly contributing to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Goetz and Uganda-based AGR are key players in the illegal gold trade in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is valued at hundreds of millions of dollars a year and is the largest source of revenue for armed groups in the country, the U.S. Treasury said in a statement.
Goetz, AGR and eight other related companies will be blocked under the sanctions.
Record gold prices have led to explosive growth in African gold exports. Most of the gold goes to the UAE, where three of Goetz's sanctioned companies are based.
Power
2020: Very low energy consumption per capita
and
2019: Electrification rate just 9%
Transport
2019: China's efforts launch rail link between Indian and Atlantic oceans via DRC
Through the efforts of the PRC, a direct trans-African railway connection was opened between the Indian and Atlantic oceans, passing through the DRC.
On July 30, 2019, the first train between Tanzania and Angola set off on a 4300 km journey.
Agriculture
2021: Share of farmland - 12%
Foreign trade
2023:62% of wheat supplies come from Russia and Ukraine
2022: China is the biggest export destination
Tourism
Alcohol market
2018: Minimum age to purchase alcoholic beverages
R&D
2020: R&D expenses - $28 million
IT market
2022: More than 5 startups
Real estate
2020:78% of urban population lives in slums
Consumption
2023: Fish consumption is higher than meat consumption
2019: Low rice consumption: 18.1 kg per person per year
See also
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