DR Congo faces $132m loss in China deal, civil society warns
Civil society organisations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have raised concerns over financial losses incurred under the country's 2008 infrastructure-for-minerals agreement with a Chinese consortium.
In a report released on Wednesday, March 5, 2025, the watchdog group Congo is Not for Sale (CNPV) highlighted a $132 million shortfall in 2024, despite efforts to renegotiate the contract last year, local media Actualite CD reports.
The report attributes the losses to extensive tax exemptions granted to Chinese companies, which have continued to undermine the DRC’s financial gains from the deal. It also criticises the agreement's exclusion from the Congolese Mining Code, allowing unchecked fiscal privileges.
According to CNPV, in 2023 alone, the DRC lost an estimated $443 million in tax and parafiscal exemptions—amounting to 16% of the country's total tax expenditures.
Potential $7.5 billion loss over 17 years
Speaking at the report’s presentation, CNPV member Baby Matabishi warned that if the exemptions remain in place, the DRC could forfeit up to $7.5 billion over the next 17 years. These losses stem from Law No. 14/005, which grants sweeping tax, customs, and parafiscal exemptions to collaboration agreements and cooperative projects, including the Sino-Congolese contract.
"This contract has remained structurally imbalanced since its inception," Matabishi stated. Adding that, "For years, we have warned about the problematic nature of these sweeping exemptions and the contract’s management outside of traditional government institutions."
Although the agreement was signed in 2008 without a solid legal foundation, the Congolese government justified the exemptions as necessary for repaying loans used to fund infrastructure projects and develop mining operations. Even after the introduction of a new Mining Code in 2018, the contract continues to operate outside its framework, maintaining its independent tax structure.
