Foreign Aid and Development in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: An Analysis of International Barriers to Development

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remains one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. Despite its abundance of natural resources, it has failed to develop and maintain political stability since its decolonization in 1960. With its unstable and corrupt government, the DRC’s primary source of fiscal investment comes from foreign aid, from both International Organizations (IOs), like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, as well as International Non-Governmental Organization (INGOs). In this paper I examine how the role of international aid from The World Bank, IMF, and INGOs has contributed to the pervasive stagnation of the DRC’s economic growth, and how aid can be implemented equitably and efficiently. In order to create a comprehensive overview of economic development in the DRC, I analyze the repercussions of colonial legacies, government corruption, the benefits of foreign aid, and possible neo-colonial implications of foreign aid on the country’s growth. After analyzing the sum of these effects on economic growth, we can conclude that ultimately foreign aid is necessary for development in the DRC; however, adjustments must be made to current aid programs in order to create equitable growth.