Nicolas Kazadi has been appointed Minister of Finance in the government of Prime Minister Sama Lukonde. Close to Felix Tshisekedi of whom he was, until his appointment as Goodwill Ambassador, Nicolas Kazadi will be the pivot if not the central hinge of the government team called “Wariors” by the Prime Minister.
Enarque, an economist by training, Nicolas Kazadi is a former international civil servant who worked at the African Development Bank (AfDB) and at the UNDP where he held important positions. In the current configuration, Nicolas Kazadi will have the heavy task of applying the policy initiated by President Félix Tshisekedi in the areas of Finance and Budget.
The money manager must quickly define the main lines of his field of action in terms of public finances by studying the resources, charges and accounts of public authorities, and drawing up the precise rules that frame the actions. financial and accounting of public actors (establishment of budgets and accounts, collection of taxes, execution of expenditure, controls).
In view of all the above and given the political vicissitudes that prevailed before the installation of the new government, the new Congolese financier will not have a state of grace, so many expectations are high.
Indeed, it will have to send out incentive signals as soon as possible to reassure and attract investors through legislative and regulatory reforms in financial, monetary, accounting, budgetary and fiscal matters. With, as a backdrop, the consolidation of international financial relations with the Bretton Woods institutions, the ADB and other economic partners who are awaiting, on the one hand, the qualitative leap of the Thisekedi era in order to reposition the DRC as an economic engine in the world. look at its gigantic economic potential. And on the other hand, guarantees of good management of domestic and external debt.
In addition to issues related to the macroeconomic framework, among the priorities awaiting the new Minister of Finance, there are several challenges, including stepping up efforts aimed at better fiscal coherence. The hunt for abuses detrimental to efficiency and the business climate will be launched shortly. In their sights, the DRC will gain a good place in the Dring Business and Transparency International rankings.
The other major challenge will be to put an end to impunity and to strengthen criminal legislation so that any organized embezzlement of the pay of civil servants, civilian or military, is treated as an act of high treason and severely punished.
Nicolas Kazadi’s team will have to think about the operationalization of the unique tax identifier for natural and legal persons.
The new national treasurer will work to strengthen the synergy between the financial authorities and increase the use of digitalization in order to better control the tax base and fight fraud.
Nicolas Kazadi is also called upon to secure contracts and property rights, in particular with regard to land and property titles, combat the evasion of insurance premiums and establish a dissuasive penalty system.
In the set of challenges, it will also be a question of creating an agricultural bank in order to meet the specific financing needs of this sector, to create a housing bank in order to promote mortgage credit in DR-Congo, ” accelerate the establishment of control mechanisms with a view to putting an end to the flow of revenue at the various borders and, finally, to have certain categories of revenue appear in the State Budget, in particular the bonuses made by state enterprises.
Rodrigue Fenelon Massala
