Republic of Congo

This paper examines the Republic of Congo’s 2003 Article IV Consultation and a New Staff-Monitored Program (SMP). Performance under IMF-supported programs and recent SMPs was disappointing. Major progress has been made in consolidating security and peace, and in establishing democratic institutions. The public finances deteriorated in 2002, reflecting a combination of expenditure overruns and a drop in non-oil revenue collection. The drop in non-oil revenue was more pronounced at customs, owing to large-scale fraud and widespread use of ad hoc exemptions. As a result, most targets under the 2002 SMP were missed.Staff-monitored programs;debt service, external debt, debt relief, balance of payments, public debt, public finances, fiscal policy, fiscal balance, central bank, fiscal sustainability, capital expenditure, external public debt, government revenue, current account, long-term fiscal sustainability, debt obligations, fiscal discipline, fiscal performance, taxation, tax revenue, domestic debt, fiscal position, public expenditure, fiscal adjustment, debt-service, primary expenditure, debt outstanding, external financing, fiscal management, tax administration, multilateral creditors, public spending, fiscal consolidation, official creditors, external payments, budget expenditures, debt rescheduling, external borrowing, fiscal deficits, long-term debt, budget surplus, concessional debt, capital expenditures, tax rates, fiscal spending, public finance, primary budget surplus, budget law, primary fiscal balance, revenue collection, external debt service, external payments arrears, tax increase, fiscal effort, debt service payments, nonconcessional debt, debt reduction, fiscal obligations, fiscal revenues, private creditors, bilateral creditors, current account surplus, debt data, fiscal surplus, external debt-service obligations, fiscal difficulties, repurchases, tax compliance, government expenditures, fiscal resources, fiscal regime, general resources account, budgetary allocations, credit tranche, fiscal framework, accumulation of arrears, budget deficits, state budget, budget deficit, debt problem, actual debt, fiscal prudence, prudent fiscal policy, total external debt, debt-service obligations, imf credit outstanding, domestic debt data, fiscal deficit, repayments, tax income, current account balance, fiscal revenue, government deficits, debt burden, fiscal transparency, fiscal situation, primary deficit, tax evasion, fiscal retrenchment