By Reuters
An escalation of fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has strained the Central African nation’s public finances, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday.
Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have staged an unprecedented advance in eastern Congo this year, triggering a fresh cycle of violence in a decades-long conflict in a region rich in minerals including tantalum and gold.
The rebels seized Goma, eastern Congo’s largest city, in late January and Bukavu, the area’s second-largest, weeks later.
The closure of revenue collection offices in M23-controlled regions, combined with measures to ease living costs by exempting basic food products from customs duties and value-added tax, “have led to a revenue shortfall”, the IMF said in a statement after a visit to Congo’s capital Kinshasa.
Elevated security spending has also put pressure on the budget, the statement said. The finance ministry announced in March it was doubling salaries for soldiers and police in
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