DR Congo unveils mining and oil revenue for 2008 and 2009

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has disclosed this month what the government has received from oil and mining companies operating in the country during 2008 and 2009. The government received a total of US$ 771 million from their oil and mining industries, but significant and unexplained discrepancies were found between reported figures from the companies and the government - both in the industrial and artisanal mining sectors.

As required by the EITI standard, these figures are published in an EITI Report, which contains an independent reconciliation of what the Congolese government reports it has received and what the oil and mining companies report to have paid.

The DRC 2008-2009 EITI Report reveals significant and unexplained discrepancies between company and government disclosures both in the industrial and artisanal mining sector. Stakeholders in DRC have pointed to the complexity and sheer size of the mining sector and the need to strengthen government and company capacity to understand the EITI requirements for improved reporting in DRC.

According to the report, the oil sector contributed over US$ 550 million to the State Budget in 2008-2009, whereas the mining sector conributed less than US$ 200 million. The report does not contain a company-by-company breakdown of what the oil and mining companies have paid to the government.

“DRC should increase its efforts to consistently and accurately release information on extractive revenues to the Congolese public” said Jean Claude Katende, member of the DRC EITI multi-stakeholder group. “It is only through greater transparency and accountability that DRC’s resource wealth can benefit all citizens”, he added.

Jonas Moberg, Head of the EITI International Secretariat welcomed the launch of DRC’s second EITI report, noting that “In the face of so many challenges, DRC should be commended for its efforts to bring information on revenues from its natural resource sector to Congolese citizens. The discrepancies identified show that there is much to do before there is transparency around the revenues from DRC's vast natural resources.”

Awareness-raising around the findings from the report is underway in the mining and oil provinces to provide an opportunity for communities and citizens to discuss the information and hold the government to account on the use of resource revenues. The EITI Report itself can be found on the website of DRC EITI: http://www.itierdc.org/

To learn more about the EITI in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, please visit: http://eiti.org/DRCongo