Telecommunications, transport, commerce, restaurants and hotels were the least affected, on average -7.5% of activities, as well as the financial sector which was not impacted by the health crisis linked to Covid -19. The short and medium-term recovery plan of the United Nations system, the UN assessment of the economic and social impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and the latest report of the Task Force’s investigation on the economic impact and social aspects of the coronavirus go almost in the same direction, mentioning the resilience of the three branches of activity “telecommunications and transport”, “commerce, restaurants and hotels”, including other services related to banking and insurance.
According to the authors of the studies, the turnover of companies operating in the financial sector did not suffer any decline during the lockdown period. However, their turnover increased by 27.2% in February, 57.6% in March, 68% in April and 94.9% in May, in particular due to the good performance of the sub- “Banks and insurance” branch. Thus, the sector which was spared by restrictive measures related to containment continued its activities.
“According to the Central Bank, the situation of the banks at the end of April 2020 was characterized by: a sharp increase in the cash surplus; an increase in customer deposits, due to the build-up of precautionary savings; an increase in treasury loans to the State; an increase in credits to public enterprises; a sharp increase in the net foreign assets of primary banks ”, specify the investigators.
Unlike other businesses like the oil and mining industries, telecommunications only saw a decline in April, two months after the start of the pandemic. Telephone company revenues increased 4.2% in March, before falling 12.8% in April and 8.2% in May. The performance of the sector is linked to the increased demand for telecom services during the worst of the health crisis.
“Given the average decrease over the period (-7%), the” Commerce, restaurants and hotels “branch is one of those that have been least affected by the health crisis. Moreover, like the “manufacturing industries”, it benefited from favorable conditions at the start of the pandemic. Its turnover fell 12.3% in April and 24.1% in May, after having increased by 1.7% in February and 6.8% in March ”, we can read in the task force’s investigation.
The resilience of the trade sector is supported, according to experts, the increase in household demand for basic necessities, in order to build up provisions before containment.
On the other hand, the slight decrease observed during the month of April 2020 is due to the containment measures decreed by the government and the stagnation of the situation in May is attributable to the drop in activities in restaurants and hotels.
In general, the pandemic has led to the decline in all economic activities in the Republic of the Congo, with a sharp drop in business turnover of around 60%, between January and May 2020. The crisis complicates implementation. the National Development Plan 2018-2022 which was supposed to boost the diversification of the economy, the macroeconomic reform program concluded with the International Monetary Fund, as well as the country’s commitments relating to the United Nations 2030 agenda.
