The Democratic Republic of the Congo has a developing transition economy. Its has declined drastically in the years leading up to and during the First and Second Congo Wars, despite being home to vast potential in natural resources and mineral wealth; its gross domestic product is $79.12 billion as of 2025. During the last five reported years, the exports of the DRC has changed by $15.2 billion from $13.3 billion in 2017 to $28.5B in 2022. Since 2003, the DRC's economy has gradually grown, but it remains one of the poorest countries in the world.

At the time of its independence in 1960, the Democratic Republic of the Congo was the second most industrialized country in Africa after South Africa. It had a thriving mining sector, and its agriculture sector was relatively productive. Since then, decades of corruption, war, and political instability have been a severe detriment to further growth, today leaving DRC with a GDP per capita and a HDI rating that rank among the world's lowest and make the DRC one of the most fragile and, according to the United Nations, least developed countries in the world.

Despite this, the DRC is quickly modernizing; it tied with Malaysia for the largest positive change in HDI development in 2016. Government projects include strengthening the health system for maternal and child health, World Economic Forum: The DRC is offering pregnant women free maternity care. Retrieved 14 January 2025 expansion of electricity access, water supply reconstructions, and urban and social rehabilitation programs.

Economic implications of conflicts The two recent conflicts (the First and Second Congo Wars), which began in 1996, have dramatically reduced national output and government revenue, have increased external debt, and have resulted in the deaths of more than five million people from war and associated famine and disease. Malnutrition affects approximately two-thirds of the country's population.

Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, accounting for 57.9% of GDP in 1997. In 1996, agriculture employed 66% of the workforce.

Rich in minerals, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has a difficult history of predatory mineral extraction, which has been at the heart of many struggles within the country for many decades, but particularly in the 1990s. The economy of the second largest country in Africa relies heavily on mining. However, much economic activity occurs in the informal sector and is not reflected in GDP data.

In 2006, Transparency International ranked the Democratic Republic of the Congo 156 out of 163 countries in the Corruption Perception Index, tying Bangladesh, Chad, and Sudan with a 2.0 rating. President Joseph Kabila established the Commission of Repression of Economic Crimes upon his ascension to power in 2001.

The conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were over water, minerals, and other resources. A large proportion of fatalities in the country are attributed to a lack of basic services, recognized as "communicable, maternal, perinatal, and nutritional conditions," which account for 56% of deaths by broad cause as of 2021. The influx of refugees since the war in 1998 only serves to worsen the issue of poverty. Money of the taxpayers in the DRC is often misappropriated, while the elites are given various forms of exemption. The DRC is consistently ranked among the lowest countries on the UN Human Development Index.

Economic history

After Leopold Forced labor (slavery) was important for the rural sector. The corporations that dominated the economy were mostly owned by Belgium, but British capital also played an important role. The 1950s were a period of rising income and expectations. Congo was said to have the best public health system in Africa, but there was also a huge wealth disparity. Belgian companies favored workers in certain areas more and exported them to work in different areas, restricting opportunities for others. Favored groups also received better education and were able to secure jobs for people in the same ethnic group, which increased tensions. In 1960 there were only 16 university graduates out of a population of 20 million. Belgium still had economic power, and independence gave little opportunity for improvement. Common refrains included "no elite, no trouble" and "before independence = after independence." When the Belgians left, most of the government officials and educated residents left with them. Before independence, there were just 3 out of 5000 government jobs held by Congolese people. The resulting loss of institutional knowledge and human capital crippled the government.

Zaire

After the Congo Crisis, Mobutu arose as the country's sole ruler and stabilized the country politically. Economically, however, the situation continued to decline, and by 1979, the purchasing power was only 4% of that from 1960. Starting in 1976, the IMF provided stabilizing loans to the dictatorship. Much of the money was embezzled by Mobutu and his circle.

This was not a secret, as the 1982 report by IMF's envoy, Erwin Blumenthal, documented. He stated, "It is alarmingly clear that the corruptive system in Zaire, with all its wicked and ugly manifestations, its mismanagement and fraud, will destroy all endeavors of international institutions, of friendly governments, and of the commercial banks towards recovery and rehabilitation of Zaire’s economy".

Blumenthal indicated that there was "no chance" that creditors would ever recover their loans. Yet the IMF and the World Bank continued to lend money that was either embezzled, stolen, or "wasted on white elephant projects". "Structural adjustment programmes" implemented as a condition of IMF loans cut support for health care, education, and infrastructure.

1990s Poor infrastructure, an uncertain legal framework, corruption, and lack of openness in government economic policy and financial operations remain a brake on investment and growth. In the early 1990s, a number of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank missions met with the government to help it develop a coherent economic plan, but without reform being implemented.

Faced with continued currency depreciation, the government resorted to more drastic measures and in January 1999 banned the widespread use of American dollars for all domestic commercial transactions, a position it later adjusted. The government has been unable to provide foreign exchange for economic transactions, while it has resorted to printing money to finance its expenditure. Growth was negative in 2000 because of the difficulty of meeting the conditions of international donors, continued low prices of key exports, and post-coup instability.

2000s DRC's economic growth decelerated from its pre-COVID level of 4.4% in 2019 to an estimated 0.8% in 2020. Growth was driven by the extractives sector which, helped by robust demand from China, expanded by 6.9% in 2020 (compared to 1% in 2019). Meanwhile, non-mining sectors contracted by 1.6% (vs. growth of 5.7% in 2019) due to pandemic-related mobility restrictions, weaker trading activities and constrained government spending. Private consumption and government investment fell in 2020 by an estimated 1.0% and 10.2%, respectively.

Special economic zones The DRC planned to establish special economic zones (SEZ) to encourage the revival of its industry. The first SEZ was planned to come into being in 2012 in N'Sele, a commune of Kinshasa, and will focus on agro-industries. The Congolese authorities also planned to open another zone dedicated to mining (Katanga) and a third dedicated to cement (in the Kongo Central). Le "paradis" où le droit fera la loi, L'Echo, novembre 2010 There are three phases to the program that each have their own objectives. Phase I was the precursor to the actual investment in the Special Economic Zone, where policymakers agreed to the framework, the framework was studied for its establishment, and to predict the potential market demand for the land. Stage one of Phase II involved submitting laws for the Special Economic Zone, finding good sites for businesses, and currently there is an effort to help the government attract foreign investment. Stage two of Phase II hasn't been started yet, and it involves assisting the government in creating a framework for the country, creating an overall plan for the site, figuring out what the environmental impact of the project will be, and guessing how much it will cost and what the return can be made on the investment. Phase III involves the World Bank creating a transaction phase that will keep everything competitive. The program is looking for options to hand over the program to the World Bank, which could be very beneficial for the western part of the country.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) GDP (Nominal)

Source: International Monetary Fund (IMF)

GDP per capita (nominal)

Source: International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Economic implications of instability Ongoing conflicts dramatically reduced government revenue and increased external debt. As Reyntjens wrote, "Entrepreneurs of insecurity are engaged in extractive activities that would be impossible in a stable state environment. The criminalization context in which these activities occur offers avenues for considerable factional and personal enrichment through the trafficking of arms, illegal drugs, toxic products, mineral resources and dirty money." Ethnic rivalries were made worse because of economic interests and looting and coltan smuggling took place. Illegal monopolies formed in the country where they used forced labor for children to mine or work as soldiers. National parks were overrun with people looking to exploit minerals and resources. Increased poverty and hunger from the war increased the hunting of rare wildlife. Education was denied when the country was under foreign control, and very few people made money off the minerals in the country. The national resources are not the root cause of the continued fighting in the region; however, the competition has become an incentive to keep fighting. The DRC's level of economic freedom is one of the lowest in the world, putting it in the repressed category. The armed militias fight with the government in the eastern section of the country over the mining sector or the corruption of the government, and weak policies lead to the instability of the economy. Human rights abuses also ruin economic activity; the DRC has a 7% unemployment rate but still has one of the lowest GDPs per capita in the world. A major problem for people trying to start their own companies is that the minimum amount of capital needed to launch the company is five times the average annual income, and prices are regulated by the government, which almost forces people to have to work for the larger, more corrupt businesses; otherwise, they won't have work. It is hard for the DRC to encourage foreign trade because of the regulatory barriers.

International relations

Poor infrastructure, an uncertain legal framework, corruption, and lack of openness in government economic policy and financial operations remain a brake on investment and growth. A number of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank missions have met with the new government to help it develop a coherent economic plan, but associated reforms are on hold.