Business climate and major reforms in DR Congo from 2003 to 2020

The Democratic Republic of Congo has experienced economic and security disruptions to the point of being classified as having a "very difficult business climate" by the 2014 U.S. Trade Representative's Office. Yet, since 2009, it has launched a vast program of reforms to improve the business and investment climate in order to occupy a prominent place in the "Doing Business" report. The purpose of this paper is to provide the reader with a brief deciphering of the evolution of the business environment in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2003 to 2020. Through a statistical analysis of secondary data from World Bank databases, the Ministries of Planning, Budget, Finance and Economy, the results show that, out of the ten areas assessed, six areas have seen their indicators improve significantly. However, enormous challenges remain for the Congolese authorities to ensure the sustainability of the reforms adopted and for researchers to investigate the effectiveness of the reforms adopted, taking into account the current challenges of globalization and digitalization.