Author: Emmanuel Mbemba

Budget Revision Reflects Expanding Reform Ambitions In a climate of heightened fiscal vigilance, the steering committee of the Programme to Accelerate Institutional Governance and Reforms (Pagir) endorsed on 8 July an upward revision of the 2025 work-plan and budget to CFAF 3 592 708 350. The 17 % increase, compared with the originally projected CFAF 3 069 655 000, materialises the decision of the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Integration to incorporate additional reform-driven activities. These include the recasting of the national investment charter, preparatory work for the 2027-2031 National Development Plan and the formal adoption of a country…

Brazzaville Readies an African Convergence In a ceremony that blended diplomatic decorum with entrepreneurial optimism, Minister of the Promotion of Women and the Informal Economy Ines Nefer Ingani inaugurated the preparatory committee for the second African Forum on Social and Solidarity Economy. The meeting, held on 9 July 2025 in the heart of Brazzaville, confirmed that the Congolese capital will host delegates from at least forty African and partner states between 20 and 24 January 2026. While the first edition in Yaoundé highlighted proof-of-concept initiatives, the forthcoming gathering promises to institutionalise a continental roadmap, thereby giving Brazzaville a symbolic gravitas…

A quest for orderly commerce along the Atlantic littoral In the heart of Congo-Brazzaville’s economic capital, the sound of cement mixers now rivals the customary chant of traders. The Minister of Urban Sanitation, Local Development and Road Maintenance, Juste Désiré Mondelé, visiting Pointe-Noire on 9 July, declared himself “pleasantly surprised” by the pace and workmanship observed on the two state-sponsored market complexes. His assessment echoed comments frequently voiced by municipal officials who view the projects as a linchpin of urban order (La Semaine Africaine, 11 July 2024). Though markets seldom headline geopolitical briefings, their revitalisation tells a wider story of…

Strategic Imperatives behind the Recent Shortages The sudden queues that snaked around filling stations in Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire earlier this year were the visible symptom of a structural imbalance long acknowledged by policymakers. Congo’s national refinery, Coraf, meets barely sixty percent of domestic demand, leaving the remainder to volatile international markets. Rising post-pandemic mobility, increased industrial activity and the redirection of some regional flows toward Europe after the Ukrainian crisis aggravated this supply-demand gap, officials explained during a strenuous question-and-answer session at the National Assembly on 4 July. In diplomatic circles the episode was viewed less as an isolated crisis…

Congo-Brazzaville Secures a Targeted Multilateral Boost On 25 June 2025 the Republic of Congo’s bicameral legislature approved a €70.6 million facility negotiated with the World Bank under the third Development Policy Financing operation. The envelope, split between an International Development Association credit of €53.9 million and a grant component calibrated at €16.7 million, arrives against a backdrop of cautious but measurable post-pandemic recovery. Speaker Isidore Mvouba described the vote as “a responsible endorsement of our national revival agenda”, reflecting a domestic consensus that external support remains crucial to sustaining momentum (Ministry of Finance Brazzaville 2025). Macroeconomic Signals Suggest a Gradual…

A symbolic descent to the economic shoreline Pointe-Noire has long functioned as the Republic of Congo’s gateway to the Atlantic and, by extension, to global markets. When Finance, Budget and Public Portfolio Minister Christian Yoka arrived on 4 July for a forty-eight-hour inspection, he did so at a moment when the national treasury seeks every additional franc it can credibly mobilise. According to recent International Monetary Fund assessments, the country’s non-oil revenue remains below 10 % of GDP, a level widely viewed as insufficient for financing ambitious public-investment and social-stabilisation programmes (IMF 2023). Against this backdrop, Yoka’s itinerary—customs headquarters, the…

Mbalam-Nabeba Project Accelerates Toward Early Output When the first shovel broke ground at Souanké in May 2024, investors pencilled in 2025 as the inaugural year of production. Barely eight weeks later, Bestway-Finance chief executive Alexandre Mbiam felt confident enough to move the milestone forward to December 2024. Speaking in Brazzaville on 4 July, he told senior officials gathered by Minister of State Pierre Oba that the ramp-up is tracking “very satisfactorily”, with beneficiation units already 42 % complete and pre-strip mining under way on the Nabeba ridge (Congo Ministry of Mines communiqué, 4 July 2024). The transboundary undertaking—embracing Nabeba, Avima…

Strategic Convergence of Vision and Opportunity In the geometric heart of Central Africa, Brazzaville has quietly become a test-bed for what Congolese policymakers term a “responsible Afrofuturism”. Far from the hyperbole that often surrounds artificial intelligence, the concept stresses a calibrated fusion of ancestral knowledge systems, modern data science and the eighteen pillars of the national digital plan adopted under President Denis Sassou Nguesso. That plan, unveiled at the OSIANE forum and refined in partnership with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, deliberately links every line of code to a measurable Sustainable Development Goal (UNECA 2023). The approach reflects…

A Forum’s Evolution from Abidjan to Brazzaville The International Forum of Francophone Enterprises has travelled a long way since its inaugural edition in Paris. Its sixth gathering in Abidjan in May 2025 offered a pragmatic look at post-pandemic recovery across the Francophone economic space. Delegates applauded Côte d’Ivoire’s rapid infrastructure drive but also questioned the uneven distribution of intra-Francophone investment flows. Amid the networking sessions, Dr Jean-Daniel Ovaga, chair of the National Union of Congolese Economic Operators, formally placed Brazzaville’s candidacy on the table, arguing that the Congo’s geography and linguistic homogeneity could help rebalance commercial corridors in Central Africa.…

A Symbolic Take-Off After Eight Years on the Ground When flight LC701 pushed back from Brazzaville’s Maya-Maya tarmac at dawn on 1 July, observers noted more than the routine hum of CFM engines. It was the first regional sortie for Equatorial Congo Airlines since the carrier’s suspension in 2016, a hiatus brought on by adverse market conditions and a challenging balance sheet. In an era where many African flag carriers have faded permanently, ECAir’s re-emergence represents a noteworthy reversal, crafted through a gradual domestic redeployment that already counts 118 000 passengers since May 2024, according to internal traffic data corroborated…