This information is derived from the State Department's Office of Investment Affairs’ Investment Climate Statement. Any questions on the ICS can be directed to EB-ICS-DL@state.gov

Generally speaking, the DRC state owned enterprises (SOEs) are a burden on the nation’s economy. SOEs stifle competition and are unable to provide reliable electricity, transportation, and other important services over which they have monopolies.  SOEs and other Congolese parastatal organizations are in a poor financial and operational state due primarily to indebtedness, mismanagement of resources and employees, and bad service delivery. 

Reporting on the assets of SOEs and other parastatal enterprises is limited, making valuation difficult.  According to State law N° 08/007 of July 7, 2008 (related to business transformation), any firm of which the state owns 50 percent plus one share is considered to be an SOE.  DRC law does not grant SOEs advantage over private companies in bidding for government contracts, however, in practice, SOEs are favored over private companies, often using questionable practices and arguably unsupportable legal actions.

The List of SOEs

SOE accounts are not audited.  While the Supreme Audit Institution (Cour des Comptes) is authorized to audit SOEs and to publish findings, a lack of resources devoted to the organization has resulted in no or partial SOE audits.  In addition, the Conseil Superieur du Portefeuille – an oversight body under the Ministry of Portfolio – is mandated with assessing SOE financial performance in terms of growth, profitability, and solvency.  Their reports are for internal use and are not publicly available.

There is no official provision requiring preferential access to land and raw materials for SOEs; in a situation where both an SOE and private enterprise show interest to the same land or material, preferential access shall be granted to the first applicant.

The DRC is not a party to the WTO’s procurement agreement (GPA) and does not adhere to the OECD guidelines on Corporate Governance for SOEs.
 

Privatization Program

The DRC has no official privatization program, though, with support of the World Bank, the GDRC established a Steering Committee in 2010 for the Reform of Public Enterprises (COPIREP), which attempts to address the performance of SOEs.  To date, only a handful of SOEs have undergone reform, with mixed results.

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