Maximising the Democratic Republic of Congo's economic potential

It is the second largest country in Africa and the third most populous. The Democratic Republic of Congo is a key player on the continent. It has one of the strongest growth rates in the sub-Saharan region. Euronews went to the Congolese capital, Kinshasa to observe an unprecedented conference designed to explore the country's economic strengths and weaknesses.

Guiding investors by sifting through the strengths and weaknesses of the country: this is the objective of the "Country Risk Conference" organized for the first time in the DRC.

Major players in the regional political and economic spheres have gathered around a report written by the pan-African rating agency Bloomfield.

Various information was analysed: macroeconomic data as well as social and security data, culminating the country reciving a rating of 5.1 out of 10.

Stanislas Zézé, CEO of the Bloomfield Investment corporation explained what the grade means.

"The rating of 5.1 represents moderate risk, a median moderate risk. It means that the D.R.C is a country with a lot of potential, with reforms that are being implemented but also with weaknesses."

Among these weaknesses are the lack of infrastructure, security risks in the east and problems with corruption.

However, recently, the international rating agencies Moody's or Standard and Poors, raised the country's sovereign rating.  This signals the country's economic situation is improving and the Minister of Finance is determined to strike while the iron is hot and continue this dynamic of change.

"In terms of public finance, we have an extremely ambitious roadmap that we are implementing as part of the program with the IMF. It is essentially to improve revenue transparency, tax reforms to create a more favourable