Who Runs DR Congo’s Economy, the Key Players in 2026
AFRICA · DR CONGO
Key Facts
- The engine Mining drives the economy: DR Congo exported 3.4 million tonnes of copper and 44,333 tonnes of cobalt in 2025.
- The state Gécamines, the state mining company, had revenue of US$325.1 million in 2025 but a net loss of US$391.3 million.
- The foreign giants Glencore, China’s CMOC, and Ivanhoe Mines with China’s Zijin Mining run the biggest copper and cobalt mines, with the state as minority partner.
- The rule Cobalt exports are capped at 96,600 tonnes a year for 2026 and 2027, including a 9,600 tonne state reserve.
- The money The policy rate is 12.5 percent, annual inflation 8.9 percent, and one US dollar buys about 2,262 francs (as of October 2026).
- The budget The government’s 2027 budget bill totals US$24.8 billion, up 11.9 percent on the revised 2026 budget of US$22.2 billion.
- The travel rating The State Department rates DR Congo Level 4, Do Not Travel, in an advisory dated 15 July 2026.
In Plain English
Cobalt is a metal used in jet engines and batteries, and copper is the metal used in wiring and motors. Both come out of the same rocks in southern DR Congo, so one mine often produces both.
A quota is a cap on how much cobalt a company may export in a year. A royalty is a payment that a mining company makes to the state or to the state miner for the right to dig.
DR Congo’s economy is run by a small circle of actors: the president and his government, the central bank, the state miner Gécamines, and a few foreign groups that mine most of the copper and cobalt. As of October 2026 the country is the world’s leading source of mined cobalt and Africa’s top copper exporter, and its economy grew 5.5 percent in 2025.
The Economy in Numbers
The World Bank estimates that real output grew 5.5 percent in 2025 and projects average growth of 5.1 percent a year from 2026 to 2028, as of October 2026. Mining output rose 10.1 percent in 2025, while the rest of the economy grew only 3.1 percent, led by construction and services.
The national accounts commission quoted in the central bank’s weekly note expects 5.4 percent growth in 2026, with mining slowing to 6.4 percent because of technical problems at Kamoa-Kakula, a power shortage and the cobalt export quota. Annual inflation was 8.9 percent in the fourth week of October 2026, up from 2.5 percent a year earlier, and the policy rate stands at 12.5 percent.
Wealth is thin despite the mineral riches: the World Bank puts 81.1 percent of Congolese below US$3 a day in 2025, and the national statistics institute found 69 percent below the national poverty line in 2024. The Bank’s lending portfolio in the country stood at US$8.2 billion across 25 national projects on 25 September 2026.
The central bank held US$7,381.4 million of foreign reserves on 21 October 2026, equal to 2.82 months of imports. The official rate on 30 October 2026 was 2,261.56 Congolese francs per US dollar, and the premium on the parallel market was 3.1 percent as of 23 October 2026.
The Officials Who Set the Rules
President Félix Tshisekedi heads the state, and Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka leads the government, as the government websites show. Its list of the Suminwa II cabinet shows Doudou Fwamba Likunde as finance minister and Adolphe Muzito as vice prime minister and budget minister.
Daniel Mukoko Samba is vice prime minister and national economy minister, and Louis Watum Kabamba runs the mines ministry, whose site counts 3,448 valid mining titles and more than 114 companies in production. Acacia Bandubola is hydrocarbons minister, and Julie Mbuyi Shiku is portfolio minister, the post that covers state-owned companies.
The central bank is led by Governor André Wameso, and its policy committee left the main rate at 12.5 percent on 8 October 2026. The latest country guide and the DR Congo news hub give the political background.
The State Miner and Its Partners
Gécamines, short for Générale des Carrières et des Mines, is the state-owned mining company, and its website lists Baraka Kabemba as managing director and Deogratias Ngele Masudi as chairman. Its releases of January and February 2026 name Guy-Robert Lukama as chairman and Placide Nkala as director general, so the leadership changed during the year.
Gécamines reported revenue of US$325.1 million in 2025, of which 61.5 percent came from royalties, entry fees and other partnership income and 20.7 percent from selling mining products. It booked a net loss of US$391.3 million, and its accounts blame a new 25 percent state levy on partnership dividends that lifted taxes from US$210.5 million to US$311.5 million.
The same accounts list US$138.6 million of royalties in 2025, including US$28.0 million from Sicomines, the Congolese-Chinese copper venture. Gécamines owns minority stakes in partner mines, among them 25 percent of Kamoto Copper Company and a 20 percent share of Tenke Fungurume.
In January 2026 Gécamines said its new trading subsidiary, backed by the commodity trader Mercuria, would buy 100,000 tonnes of Tenke Fungurume copper from 2026 output for the American market. Its stated ambition is sales rights of up to 500,000 tonnes of copper and 40,000 tonnes of cobalt.
In February 2026 Gécamines agreed to take almost half the zinc concentrate of Kipushi, a joint venture with Ivanhoe Mines, which it says makes it the country’s top zinc exporter. In June 2026 its managing director said he wants to lift the company into Africa’s top ten.
The Foreign Mining Companies
Glencore, the commodities group based in Baar, Switzerland, owns 70 percent of Kamoto Copper Company, with Gécamines at 25 percent and the Congolese state at 5 percent. Its African copper division, which is the Kamoto and Mutanda mines, produced 138,400 tonnes of copper in the first half of 2026, up 66 percent on a year earlier.
The same Glencore report shows its Congo cobalt output fell 51 percent to 8,700 tonnes in the first half, because the company is putting copper first under the export quota. The state took 5 percent of Mutanda Mining in 2023 after its mining titles were renewed.
CMOC, a Chinese miner, holds 80 percent of Tenke Fungurume and 71.25 percent of Kisanfu, and its Congo division produced 741,100 tonnes of copper and 117,500 tonnes of cobalt in 2025. Ivanhoe Mines, which trades in Toronto, and China’s Zijin Mining each own 39.6 percent of Kamoa-Kakula, with the Congolese state holding 20 percent and Crystal River Global 0.8 percent.
Kamoa-Kakula produced 388,838 tonnes of copper in concentrate in 2025, and Ivanhoe guides to 290,000 to 310,000 tonnes in 2026, a drop that the central bank ties to technical problems at the complex. Barrick and AngloGold Ashanti each own 45 percent of the Kibali gold mine, and the state gold company Sokimo holds the other 10 percent.
Copper, Cobalt and the Export Quota
The ministry of mines counts 3.4 million tonnes of contained copper exported in 2025, which makes DR Congo Africa’s biggest copper exporter and the second in the world after Chile. Cobalt exports were only 44,333 tonnes that year because the government suspended them from 22 February to 16 October 2025.
Since the suspension ended, exports run under a quota of up to 96,600 tonnes of contained cobalt a year in 2026 and 2027, including 9,600 tonnes for a national strategic reserve, according to the US Geological Survey. The Survey estimates that DR Congo mined 230,000 tonnes of cobalt in 2025, or 73 percent of the world total.
Prices have split: the central bank’s weekly note of 23 October 2026 shows copper at US$14,087.6 a tonne, up 12.3 percent since the end of 2025, and cobalt at US$38,596.0, down 25.9 percent. The note calls the copper price the main support for export income, while the cobalt slide and a weekly fall in reserves call for close monitoring.
Other metals matter at the margin: the ministry counts 209,307 tonnes of zinc, 28.2 tonnes of gold, 3,147 tonnes of tin metal and 9 million carats of diamonds exported in 2025. Gold, tin and gemstone output from the east is harder to count, because armed conflict stopped the statistics commission from collecting full artisanal data in North and South Kivu provinces.
Banks, Money and Public Finance
The central bank’s register lists 16 licensed banks, among them Rawbank, Equity BCDC, Trust Merchant Bank of Lubumbashi, Standard Bank, Ecobank and Citi Group Congo. Rawbank, founded in 2002 by the Rawji family, had US$6.82 billion in assets, US$4.8 billion in deposits and US$2.29 billion in loans at the end of 2025.
Rawbank’s managing director is Mustafa Rawji, and the bank made a pre-tax profit of US$329 million in 2025, up 34 percent, through more than 100 branches. Its website says the Rawji family business has been present in Congo for more than 85 years.
The government’s 2027 budget bill, adopted by the cabinet on 11 September 2026, totals US$24.8 billion at a planning rate of 2,300 francs per dollar, up 11.9 percent on the revised 2026 budget of US$22.2 billion. The Ministry of the Budget expects the tax office to collect about US$10 billion, customs about US$4 billion and the administrative fees office about US$3.4 billion.
The same budget guide says the International Monetary Fund, a lender that backs reform programs, completed the third review of its Extended Credit Facility and the second review of its Resilience and Sustainability Facility in 2026. The government also issued its first Eurobonds, and the 2027 bill counts US$529 million of that money among its external resources.
The United States and Other Foreign Powers
The United States ties its Congo policy to peace in the east: on 4 December 2025 the presidents of DR Congo and Rwanda signed the Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity with President Donald Trump, according to the State Department. On 28 October 2026 the department sanctioned Rwanda’s defense ministry and a Rwandan security-forces credit society over support for the Rwandan army and the M23 armed group, and it urged companies to check supply chains from M23-held mining areas such as Rubaya.
Minerals are the commercial link: Gécamines said in January 2026 that its 100,000 tonnes of Tenke Fungurume copper were meant for the American market, in line with recent agreements between DR Congo and the United States. China is present through CMOC, Zijin and Sicomines, which paid Gécamines US$28.0 million in royalties in 2025.
The 2027 budget bill earmarks about US$3 billion for infrastructure, including the Inga power line, and the World Bank’s next strategy is built around three corridors named Inga, Lobito and the Peace Corridor. The central bank blames a power shortage for part of the 2026 slowdown in mining.
What It Means for US Readers
The United States relied on imports for an estimated 79 percent of the cobalt it used in 2025 and 57 percent of its copper, the US Geological Survey says, so Congolese quota and export decisions reach American factories. The Survey lists Norway, Finland, Canada and Japan as the leading direct sources of US cobalt metal, oxide and salts imports in 2021 to 2024, and it names China as the world’s leading cobalt refiner.
Investors in Glencore, Ivanhoe Mines, Barrick and the other listed groups named here are exposed to Congolese rules on taxes, quotas and royalties. The 25 percent state levy on partnership dividends that Gécamines cites in its 2025 accounts shows how those rules can change.
Americans planning a trip should read the Level 4 advisory first, which says that because of the Ebola outbreak, US citizens who have been in DR Congo within 21 days cannot board commercial flights to the United States. Businesses pricing in francs should note that annual inflation was 8.9 percent in October 2026 against 2.5 percent a year earlier.
What Is Not Known
Two official sources disagree on cobalt: the US Geological Survey estimates 230,000 tonnes mined in 2025, while the ministry of mines records 100,015 tonnes of cobalt in its production tables, and neither document explains the gap. The ministry adds that reporting is incomplete because some companies skip monthly reports and conflict blocks data collection in the Kivus.
It is not known whether Kamoa-Kakula will return to its 2025 output, because Ivanhoe guides to 290,000 to 310,000 tonnes for 2026 and plans more than 500,000 tonnes a year from 2028. It is also not known whether Parliament will pass the 2027 budget as filed, since the National Assembly and Senate had not voted on it as of October 2026.
The text of the minerals arrangements between Kinshasa and Washington had not been published on the government pages reviewed, so quantities, prices and ownership terms are unknown. The delivery record of Gécamines’ 100,000 tonne copper purchase is also unpublished, because the company released the plan but no shipment figures.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who runs the DR Congo economy?
The president, the prime minister and the finance, budget and mines ministers set policy, while Governor André Wameso leads the central bank. Gécamines and foreign groups such as Glencore, CMOC and Ivanhoe Mines run most of the mining.
What is Gécamines?
Gécamines is the state-owned mining company of DR Congo, led by managing director Baraka Kabemba as of October 2026. It earns most of its income from partners’ royalties and fees, and it lost US$391.3 million in 2025.
How much cobalt does DR Congo produce?
The US Geological Survey estimates 230,000 tonnes in 2025, or 73 percent of world mine output. Exports are capped at 96,600 tonnes of contained cobalt a year for 2026 and 2027.
Which foreign companies mine in DR Congo?
The largest are Glencore, China’s CMOC, and Ivanhoe Mines with China’s Zijin Mining, plus Barrick and AngloGold Ashanti at the Kibali gold mine. The Congolese state holds a minority stake in each of those main ventures.
Is it safe for Americans to visit DR Congo?
The State Department rates DR Congo Level 4, Do Not Travel, in an advisory dated 15 July 2026. An Ebola outbreak in 2026 adds a health risk, so travelers should read the current advisory before any trip.
How big is the DR Congo economy?
The World Bank estimates growth of 5.5 percent in 2025, and the central bank expects 5.4 percent in 2026. The 2027 budget bill assumes nominal output of about US$137 billion.
Sources: World Bank, Democratic Republic of Congo overview, October 2026; Banque Centrale du Congo, rates and indicators, 30 October 2026; Banque Centrale du Congo, weekly economic note, 23 October 2026; Banque Centrale du Congo, register of licensed banks; Ministry of Mines, panorama and statistics of mining products, 2025; Ministry of the Budget, citizen’s budget for the 2027 finance bill, September 2026; Prime Minister’s office, Suminwa II government list; Gécamines, website, press releases of January and February 2026; Gécamines, financial statements for 2025; Glencore, 2026 half-year production report and results, 5 August 2026; Kamoto Copper Company, ownership; CMOC, Congo copper and cobalt operations; Ivanhoe Mines, Kamoa-Kakula complex; Barrick, Kibali gold mine; Rawbank, annual report 2025; US Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, cobalt; US State Department, statement of 28 October 2026; US State Department, travel advisories feed, 15 July 2026 entry for DR Congo.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief