SUMMARY
Without being regarded as a panacea, today the microfinance is
presented like a serious alternative to the various development policies tested
up to now. The general objective of this work is to make a state of place of
the microfinance situation in DRC by supporting the analysis with a case
study bearing on the producers of vegetables of the market-gardening
of djili/CECOMAF site in Kinshasa.
It is necessary to announce at first sight that one
of the problems which inhibit the development of the microfinancial sector
in D R C is the lack of the reliable statistics (offers, needs, etc), making
thus the research in this field so difficult. However, with the demographic
growth in the country, and the increasingly significant rate of the people
living in an absolute poverty, the increase in demand for microfinance is
obvious.
In spite of this necessity in financial services for the poor,
the supply does not cover yet
the demand. Indeed, according to USM/FENU and UNDP (2003)
report on the analysis of the investment opportunities for the development of
the microfinance sector in D. R.C, some studies evoke about 60 to 70 operators.
However this number does not include the very many informal organizations
(protective sackings, groups of mutual aids, co-operatives not recognized by
the State, etc). The RSM estimates that there would exist, today,
through all the country, 550 operators. Whereas, until 2003, the Central
Bank had granted approvals only at 15 institutions
(co-operative and others), 80 others were waiting for approval
but, with often incomplete files.
In addition to the insufficiency of the supply, the
microfinance sector in R D Congo suffers from the absence of coherent and
specific legislation, and adapted to the socio-economic context of the
country. Here, we must to recognize that an effort was made with
the promulgation of the instruction n° 1 of the Central Bank of
Congo. Nevertheless, the fact remains pressing that a law on the
microfinance be adopted to complete the instruction
n°1insufficiencies.
The case study carried out on the market-gardeners of
djili/CECOMAF in Kinshasa indeed reveals, in spite of the smallness of the
granted credit (on average 100 $ US), 53% of the investigated
market-gardeners declare do not always respect the date of refunding.
According
to the recipients` appreciation, it emerges a negative opinion on
the whole, indeed, 87% of them
are not satisfied in the way in which the system of
microfinancement functioned up to now on their market-gardening site. The
two reasons most evoked to justify their position are: the smallness
of the granted credit and the refunding expiry, which is considered to be too
short. The case study also showed the problem of the microcrédit
fungibility among recipients on the investigated site.
In spite of its present difficulties, the microfinance has a
significant role to play in the fight against poverty in DRC. The country has
many assets (local dynamics, the keen demand, political good-will, etc.) as
showed by microfinance sector SWOT analysis in RDC. Some proposals are
formulated at the end of this document for a better use of these
assets and opportunities.
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