- Decision
- Maintain
- Rate change
- 0 bps
- key policy rate
- 25%
The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Congo (BCC) on 18 July 2025 kept its policy stance “broadly restrictive”, leaving the benchmark rate at 25 percent and retaining reserve‐requirement ratios on sight and term deposits at 12 percent and 0 percent in local currency and 13 percent and 12 percent in foreign currency, citing firming macroeconomic stability, falling inflation and still-solid growth prospects. After holding the rate unchanged at 25 percent in its January and April reviews, the BCC notes year-on-year inflation eased to 8.4 percent in June from 20.7 percent a year earlier and is projected to slow further to 7.8 percent by December, while GDP growth is expected to stay robust at 5.3 percent in 2025, driven by mining. The Congolese franc depreciated only 0.9 percent on the interbank market and 0.2 percent on the parallel market in H1, compared with 6 percent in the same period of 2024, and the improving external position should keep building foreign-exchange reserves. The committee flagged escalating global geopolitical and trade tensions as key downside risks and vowed continued vigilance, pledging to take corrective steps if needed; its next ordinary meeting is set for 14 October 2025.
Rate evolution
The Central Bank of the Congo shifted from a broadly restrictive stance to easing, with the policy rate falling 1,000 basis points from 25% in July 2025 to 15.0% in January 2026 after a fourth-quarter pivot toward accommodation. In July, it held the rate as macroeconomic stability strengthened, inflation slowed and the Congolese franc stabilised, but it still stressed prudence because of rising uncertainty from armed conflict and global geopolitical and trade tensions. By late 2025, disinflation had intensified and the franc appreciated markedly as foreign-exchange intervention, reserve-requirement reform, a more transparent foreign-exchange market and better liquidity management took effect, prompting lower reserve requirements to address tighter bank liquidity while the policy rate was kept at 17.5% in December. In January, with inflation at 2.27%, well below the 7.0% medium-term objective, and growth judged robust, the committee cut the policy rate by 250 basis points and said easing begun in the last quarter of 2025 would continue, while projecting controlled inflation and exchange-rate stability but still monitoring geopolitical tensions, tariffs and liquidity closely.