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Abstract
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC),1 with a large and dynamic population of more than 55 million people, is endowed with vast natural resources including perhaps the most extensive network of navigable waterways in Africa. It also has a vast hydroelectric potential that remains largely untapped. Despite its economic potential, economic activity declined drastically during the period 1960–2000. Per capita GDP fell steadily from US$380 in 1960 to US$224 in 1990 and further to US$85 (or US$0.23 a day) in 2000, making the country among the poorest in the world (see Figure 6.1). The dramatic decline in output and income has been the result of inappropriate economic and financial policies, pervasive corruption, and, especially in the past decade, political turmoil, civil strife, and full-fledged war since 1998.
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