DRC: Mining firms to pay tax in francs

Published Oct 15, 2013

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DRC

Mining firms to pay tax in francs

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) planned to tax mining companies in local currency in an attempt to “drastically reduce” dollarisation in the economy within three years, Prime Minister Matata Ponyo said on Sunday. The DRC franc had been stable for four years and “we don’t have any justification for people to pay taxes in US dollars”, Ponyo said. “We are in the process to de-dollarise our economy and bring people to use the local currency more and more.” The DRC franc has been little changed against the dollar this year and Ponyo said the government was targeting an “exceptional” inflation rate of less than 1 percent. The economy was more than 50 percent dollarised, Ponyo said. – Bloomberg

ALGERIA

Budget deficit to rise to 18.1%

Algeria plans to increase government spending by 11.3 percent in 2014, according to a draft budget for next year, as the Opec member seeks to boost investment and avert social unrest. The draft budget, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, sees next year’s budget deficit at 18.1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), slightly wider than the 17.9 percent expected for 2013. The economy is expected to grow 4.5 percent in 2014, down from the 5 percent forecast for this year, with inflation projected at 3.5 percent, lower than the 4 percent expected this year. – Reuters

KENYA

Fuel prices cut as shilling firms

Kenya’s energy regulator reduced retail fuel prices for petrol, diesel and paraffin yesterday, after prices of crude oil fell in global markets and the Kenyan shilling firmed slightly against the dollar. Fuel prices have a big impact on the inflation rate in the economy. The rate jumped to 8.29 percent in September from 6.67 percent a month earlier. The economy depends heavily on diesel for transport, power generation and agriculture, while paraffin is used in many households for lighting and cooking. The Energy Regulatory Commission set the maximum price of a litre of super petrol in Nairobi at 112.27 shillings (R12.82), a cut of 1.16 shillings. It lowered the diesel price by 1.08 shillings to 104.47 shillings a litre. A litre of paraffin was cut by 0.55 shillings to 81.01 shillings. – Reuters

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