Impact of EPAs on the development of SMEs in Congo-Brazzaville

The interest of this book is to analyze the involvement of EPAs on SMEs in Congo and to propose private sector development strategies. The main objective is to highlight the possible effects of the EPA on SMEs in Congo-Brazzaville. Specifically, it involves: 1) Taking stock of local SMEs in order to learn lessons; 2) Propose strategies for upgrading local SMEs in Congo. Two methodological approaches were retained for this analysis, notably documentary analysis and the survey of 8 samples of SMEs in the various economic sectors of the Congo. It emerges from this analysis that the private sector, in particular SMEs in Congo, have poor access to bank credit, New Information Technologies, modern energies (Water and Electricity). In addition, the costs of transport and import of inputs and internal taxes remain very high. This would not promote the development of SMEs in Congo if the Economic Partnership Agreement is implemented. This requires the development of appropriate strategies that can mitigate the negative impacts of the EPA.