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Zaire Banking
The banking system in Zaire has traditionally been
underdeveloped and largely confined to urban areas.
Zaire's banking
system consists of a central bank, called the Bank of
Zaire (Banque
du Zaïre), and seventeen commercial banks, including
development or
investment institutions. In addition to the traditional
functions
of a central bank--issuing currency, establishing monetary
policy,
and acting as cashier for the national government--the
Bank of
Zaire also has the power to control all financial
institutions in
Zaire and to administer the country's gold and foreign
monetary
reserves.
The Bank of Zaire experienced difficulties in the early
1990s
because of the country's dire economic situation. Mobutu's
government had survived primarily by printing new money
abroad to
pay its loyal troops but became deeply indebted to German
and
British printing firms.
Of the seventeen commercial banks, only one, the
People's Bank,
was publicly owned. The other sixteen commercial banks
were mostly
subsidiaries of Western banks, the largest being the
Zairian
Commercial Bank, which is associated with a Belgian
industrial
conglomerate. The two most important investment
organizations are
the Development Finance Company (Société Financière de
Développement--Sofide) and the National Savings and Real
Estate
Fund (Caisse Nationale d'Épargne et de Crédit
Immobilier--CNECI).
Sofide is a joint stock company, financed by the
government, the
World Bank, and the private sector and was responsible for
lending
money to create or modernize industry in Zaire. CNECI
promotes
savings from the private sector and granted loans to
individuals
for housing or mortgages.
As of 1993, the banking system has virtually collapsed.
The
central bank is bankrupt, and most other banks have
closed. Despite
the demise of the official banking system, however, many
banking
services are available through the informal sector.
Visitors to
Zaire have reported that Zairian women "bankers" operating
in the
informal economy have ample supplies of foreign currencies
for
exchange.
Data as of December 1993
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