The IMF will disburse $203mln from its $1.5bln three-year loan package to DR Congo as it welcomed the country’s government’s economic reforms. The IMF said “the country’s authorities have adopted prudent macroeconomic policies, most visibly by halting central bank financing to the government”. DR Congo is one of the world’s biggest producers of copper and cobalt, a key ingredient for lithium-ion batteries that power most electric vehicles. Despite the country’s mineral riches, 72.5% of the population is in poverty. The IMF lowered its 2022 GDP growth forecast to 6.1% from 6.4%. Meanwhile, the UN warned that the M23 rebel group, the Congolese revolutionary army, has increasingly acted as a conventional army during escalating military action in DR Congo’s eastern region, and could threaten the UN peacekeeping force.