how long, page-2

Well they have to find a typewriter.................

I have heard that hopefully by the end of this month a report will be out. But no promises. No one really knows when it will be released.

In the mean time, I have heard on the grapevine, Bill and other Canadian miners were in Europe last week attending a EU/Africa conference and met with a few DRC Ministers. I can guess what would have been on the top of their agenda!

There was also a World Bank meeting discussing mining in the DRC which they also attended. (see article below)

Once this issue is settled, we can look forward to a US$100+ annual profit for 2007, 3 major resource upgrades, an announcement that the board will approve a SXEW plant at Kulu, and as Vidi indicated, who knows what else Bill has in mind. We also have UBS and others, now on their research radar. We have really joined the majors.

All the best

KKR


World Bank Board discussed its Country Assistance Strategy for DR Congo

19 December 2007
Source: ENP Newswire

WASHINGTON, 18 December 2007 – The Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank Group today discussed the Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) for the fiscal years 2008-2011.

The Board agreed that, notwithstanding the continued conflict in Eastern Congo, this is an opportune time to move from a post-conflict emergency phase (Transitional Support Strategy) to a strategic, long-term approach (CAS).

The CAS is the World Bank Group’s roadmap outlining the key development objectives to be pursued during the current and the next three fiscal years by three arms of the Bank: the Bank’s soft lending arm (the International Development Agency, IDA), the Bank’s its private sector arm (the International Finance Corporation, IFC) as well as its Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).

DR Congo’s CAS has benefited from extensive consultations and is fully aligned with the development priorities of the country as outlined in its Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and the Bank’s Africa Action Plan. It is derived from the broader Country Assistance Framework (CAF) jointly prepared with 17 other development partners. It also builds on the Transitional Support Strategy and on the recent investigations by the World Bank’s Integrity Department (INT) and the Panel Inspection.

Raising the issue of insecurity in the east of the country, the Board encouraged the government to expand the authority of the state across regions and to lead efforts to end violence, notably against women and children. It urged the government to stay the course with governance and transparency reforms, and encouraged the Bank Group to step up its support for economic governance, public finance management and pro-poor sectors. It urged the IFC and MIGA to scale up their presence in the country, pointing out that DR Congo’s turnaround will bring tremendous benefits to the sub-region.

World Bank support for DR Congo over the period of the CAS will be organized to support three of the five pillars of the Government’s PRSP: (i) promotion of good governance and peace consolidation; (ii) achievement of sustained and shared or pro-poor economic growth; and (iii) improved implementation of poverty alleviation programs with an emphasis on three social sectors: health, education and HIV/AIDS.

‘One key objective of the Country Assistance Strategy is to help the government make a significant difference in the living conditions of Congolese by ensuring that they begin to reap the peace dividend through improved access to better quality social services but also equitable access to the fruits of economic growth,’ said Jean-Michel Happi, the World Bank Country Manager for DR Congo, also the Bank’s Task Co-Team Leader for the CAS.

The Board highlighted the importance of a deeper Bank engagement in forestry and mining, as well as regional infrastructure development and also underlined the need for Government to stay the course with governance and transparency reforms, notably with respect to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. It welcomed the intentions of the Bank Group, together with other Development Partners, to step up their financial and technical support for these efforts and agreed that the strategy should remain flexible, as in all countries undergoing such rapid transformation.

The Board welcomed the Bank’s ongoing and planned joint analytical work and co-financing with other development partners in the context of the Common Country Assistance Framework, jointly developed with 17 development partners active in DRC.

The Board encouraged the IFC and MIGA to scale up their presence in DR Congo, given the country’s enormous potential and the benefits of the already substantial flows of foreign direct investments (FDI) to the country, noting that DR Congo’s successful turnaround will bring tremendous benefits to the sub-region.

Finally, the Bank Board welcomed the strong expression of external support to DR Congo at the Consultative Group meeting at the end of November 2007 in Paris, France. It invited the Bank to continue to facilitate donor coordination and harmonization, and urged the Government to take the lead in this process.



World Bank approves 12 million dollar grant for DR Congo

19 December 2007
Source: Xinhua News Agency

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank on Tuesday approved the second additional financing grant of 12 million dollars from the International Development Association (IDA) for the ongoing Emergency Multi-sector Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Project (EMRRP) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

A first additional grant, approved in November 2005, filled the 125 million dollar shortfall in IDA funding resulting from the initial IDA allocation to the project, said a statement released by the World Bank.

The additional grant approved Tuesday by the bank will help cover cost overruns that have occurred during implementation in electricity sector and project execution contracts. It will help meet immediate, short-term needs for repairs and thereby improve power service delivery.

The grant would hence support the urgent rehabilitation of key electricity sector infrastructure, as well as fund project execution and supervision across the infrastructure component of the EMRRP to ensure that activities are completed by the Project closing date, said the World Bank.

"This new support to the electricity sector is really important. It will improve the quality of one of the crucial priorities of the Congolese population," said Abdelmoula Ghzala, the World Bank's Task Team leader for the project.


DR Congo, IMF in talks on three-year plan
SB
19 December 2007
Source: Agence France Presse

KINSHASA, Dec 19, 2007 (AFP) -

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Democratic Republic of Congo have started talks on a three-year plan that could start in March next year, officials on both sides said Wednesday.

"We have engaged in discussions on a new triennial economic programme," Brian Ames of the world funding institution's Africa Department told a Kinshasa press conference after a two-week IMF mission.

"We're waiting for the passing of the budget for 2008, which will give impetus to the government's economic policy," he said. The budget is currently getting its second reading in the DRC's Senate, or upper house of parliament.

Ames said the IMF considered the central African country had made "great progress" in maintaining macro-economic stability, but said the fund would be very attentive to budgetary provisions for income and the nature of spending plans.

The governor of the vast nation's Central Bank of Congo, Jean-Claude Masangu, stressed the efforts made to maintain stability, in spite of increased military spending to battle rebels in eastern DRC, and external pressures like the rising price of oil, which pushed up transport prices and had inflationary repercussions.

"We're finishing the year with good performance in a stable framework, with inflation at 10 percent, an economic growth rate of 6.1 percent and a stable exchange rate of 500 Congolese francs to the American dollar," Masangu told the news briefing.

The central bank chief acknowledged that current budget proposals for 2008, based on an estimated growth rate of eight percent and inflation brought down to eight percent, were "a little optimistic."

Winning IMF support for its new economic programme is vital to President Joseph Kabila's government, since the 2008 budget implies that the DRC will be dependent on foreign support for almost 40 percent of planned spending.

The country has seen no such IMF backing since the last plan expired in April 2006.

If all goes well, however, DR Congo economic and monetary officials count on being able eventually to benefit from the IMF's Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, run in partnership with the World Bank.

The DRC could become eligible for this special assistance programme, begun in 1996 and currently granted to almost 40 nations worldwide, after an economic review six months into an IMF-approved budget scheme.

If so, that could lead to substantial relief with a foreign debt burden of more than 12 billion dollars (8.3 billion euros).

Asked about a plan under which China has offered the DR Congo a huge loan of more than eight billion dollars that would be partly repayable in mining rights, Ames said the government had asked the IMF for advice on this issue, which is under discussion.

"It's about a protocol of accord between the Chinese private sector and the DRC. We're waiting on the outcome of these negotiations," Ames said. He warned that the IMF would be extremely attentive to the nature of any joint-venture companies set up between Chinese firms and the state in the DR Congo's mining sector, which has vast resources.

These very natural resources have contributed to fuelling years of conflict in the DRC, which only last year emerged with massive UN peacekeeping help as a country with new elected institutions, but still strife in eastern provinces that has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

China's proposal has been controversial because of potential macro-economic fallout, the increase in the DRC's foreign debt, and with Western nations wary of recent competititive Chinese penetration into Africa for resources to feed its own economy.