Policy monitor: Central Bank of the Congo holds at 25% with inflation at 12%

The Central Bank of the Congo's benchmark policy rate stands at 25%, unchanged at its most recent review. This briefing sets out the data behind the stance, drawn from CBAN's DR Congo dataset.

Headline consumer price inflation is running at 12% year on year in the latest reading tracked by CBAN, down from 13.1% in the prior reading. That puts the real policy rate — the benchmark rate minus headline inflation — at roughly 13.0 percentage points, a restrictive setting by historical standards.

On the currency side, the Congolese franc trades near 2,850 per US dollar, down 2.8% since the start of the year. Gross official reserves stand at roughly $6.1 billion. Exchange-rate pass-through into consumer prices is one of the strongest inflation channels in most African economies, which is why these two indicators move together in policy deliberations.

The BCC's statutory mandate: Ensure the stability of the general level of prices and the internal and external stability of the Congolese franc.

The wider economy is growing at around 5.7% a year on the estimates CBAN tracks, with nominal output of about $74 billion. Growth, inflation and the exchange rate form the three-way trade-off every Monetary Policy Committee weighs.

The next scheduled monetary policy decision is 20 August 2026. CBAN tracks every African MPC date in the economic calendar, and this briefing is refreshed as new official data is released.