The Democratic Republic of Congo’s central bank plans to use the country’s updated mining law to buy dollars from mining companies in exchange for Congolese francs to shore up dwindling foreign currency reserves. The government’s demand for dollars is “to assure the resilience of the national economy” as Congo looks to qualify for a formal loan program with the International Monetary Fund, Prime Minister Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba said in a February 26 letter to Louis Watum, president of Congo’s Chamber of Mines, a division of the country’s main business lobby group.
