Imran!
"Although I don't want to be too specific, there are some things which still remain to be sorted out before we see a the "light" clearly."
What do you think about the impact of the foreign debt and the willingness of the international financial institution to act regionally in a private/state owned JV like the one Tenke is involved in? Are there any personal or institutional bonds that could prevent Tenke from getting there money for the project?
I quote our friends at NCN:
"Reuters reported on May 6 that DR Congolese President Kabila has reaffirmed that the country would pay what it could on its foreign debt, but it would not pay the $5 million per month required by the international financial institutions involved. NCN has learned that the DR Congo has agreed to pay $500,000 per month, or 10% of the requirement. This is likely to create further tension among the international financial community and donor nations, which in all candor are eager to provide financial assistance to the DR Congo. Many or most of these organizations are prohibited by statute or regulation to provide aggressive financial assistance to the country so long as it fails to meet its debt obligations. On the Congolese side, there are a host of concerns about the ability to pay, the impact of the debt on national reconstruction plans, and the moral issues associated with having to pay debt incurred by the Mobutu dictatorship. NCN has learned from a well-placed source at the World Bank that the capacity of the international financial community to mobilize resources to support the Congo's national reconstruction is being inhibited by this impasse between the two sides. That the Congo will only pay 10% of its obligation each month would seem to say that the impasse will continue for some time. NCN spent nearly two hours this date listening to Washington-based officials who deal with the matters of financial aid and support to the DR Congo and will report what was learned from those discussions in greater detail within the next few days. Suffice to say at this juncture that NCN left these discussions with a generally pessimistic outlook. It is NCN's impression that the credibility of the Kabila government is low and declining, sufficiently low already to prevent any serious financial assistence to and investment in the country in the near term. On the surface, it appears to NCN that the Kabila government has, through its rhetoric, actions and inaction on a wide variety of fronts essentially rendered itself ineffective in the international community."
Regards,
Gunnar |
