How the economic crisis can serve as a lever to bounce back

"The crisis can serve as a lever which, while burying bad habits, would bring new ones conducive for progress". These words pronounced by the Minister of State Gilbert Ondongo, on the occasion of the commissioning of the Dangote cement factory, sounded like a clarion call and a rejection of fatalism. The head of the economic department wanted to break the climate of fear maintained by foreign media and also to break the vicious circle in which many Congolese seem to be locked up and reminded everyone that this crisis is a normal moment for economic cycles. Apart from the anxiety it causes, the crisis can also bring many opportunities, provided you know how to identify and seize them. Have not several economists demonstrated that the most difficult periods are also the most interesting for creating and developing business?

The difficult financial and economic situation in Congo is not the first of its kind, nor is it exclusive. This painful context is part of the economic life of all nations. In Central Africa, the entire CEMAC zone is almost entirely affected. This is what has, moreover, required an extraordinary summit of Heads of State of the Community last December 23 in Yaoundé 2016.
In addition, arguing that "the crisis can be a lever ...” Gilbert Ondongo probably wanted to create the electroshock that was so cruelly lacking in the debate, to get the Congolese fatalism and lead them to develop antibodies against the informative viral disease spread by foreign media. The Minister of the Economy also wanted to tone down this debate, to mitigate the bad memories left by the "Structural Adjustment and Reinforced Structural Adjustment Programs" of the 1980s whose shockwave is felt till this day. Referring to some economic thinkers, Gilbert Ondongo said it is in the normal order of things that recession succeeds prosperity. Because, having been at the height of its potential until 2013, the Congolese economy could only arrive at the recession phase, registering a negative GDP of around -4%.
To get out of this phase, the government has to make an objective diagnosis and without complacency, by investigating big State institutions which would help it to understand that the sudden drop in oil prices on the international market is not the only cause of all the evils plaguing the Congo. It is enough to question the habits and practices of each other to make it clear that the Congolese attitude towards work and public affairs leaves much to be desired. Social facts such as laziness in the workplace, absenteeism, misappropriation of public funds, a taste for ease, corruption, bribery, nepotism, fraud in all its forms ..., are real bottlenecks for the national economy. Most, if not all, of these ills are compounded by impunity which has become a real cancer for all spheres of public administration. Beyond the quest for justice, the first obligation is to prevent by all means that history repeats itself; that the lessons to be taken in suffering today, turn into profit tomorrow.

How can the economic crisis turn into an opportunity?

Undoubtedly, any economic or financial crisis is first and foremost a test for the country concerned and its population. But, economists are unanimous on the opportunity that represents this moment, this particular phase of the economy. The people would be wrong to lock themselves into considerations of resignation, making the economic crisis an invincible cut-throat. The country has many assets capable of enabling economic recovery and sustained growth. It is simply a matter of turning the situation around, burying bad habits and creating new ones that are decisive for the future of the country.
Not long ago, in his message on the State of the nation, President Denis Sassou-N'Guesso called for the collective effort, engaging Congolese on the path of rigor in all companies: "Rigor for all. Rigor for the government that must set an example, show the way, tell the truth ". In this context, the state of mind of the leaders is paramount in that they must show more imagination, voluntarism and optimism. Their role is to set the course, to clearly indicate vision and ambition on the short, medium and long terms. This is undoubtedly the long-awaited moment for finally adopting behaviors prone to good governance.
This crisis is also indicative of imperfect strategies and practices of the past. As a result, it makes it possible to identify the errors made, and to commit to no longer reproducing them. For example, if for many decades the development of the Congo was only projected with oil resources, today, the crisis forces the country to diversify the portfolio of activities contributing to the State budget.
It is therefore time to change paradigms: to take the true measure of evil and to switch the behavior and practices that have been decried for a long time; work to improve the quality of investment; to engage the country in drastic reforms; to have the culture of evaluation and repression ...
Occupying the bottom of the 2018 Doing Business ranking (179th worldwide), the Congo has every interest to seize these moments of crisis to increase its score of the distance from the border, that is to say improve its performance, so its business climate, in order to attract as many investors as possible. Today, the country's difficulties stem from the following indicators: business creation; the ease of doing business; the payment of taxes; cross-border trade;  execution of contracts; the agreement to electricity;  protection of minority investors ...
In this context, the risk is that the Congo does not seize all the opportunities within its reach, to rebound. From then on, the individual and collective awareness, in view of a general change of mentality, becomes an imperative.

Jules Débel