The Influence of Small and Medium Enterprises in the Economic Development of The Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract

For decades, the Democratic Republic of Congo in the process of developing its economy largely favored public companies at the expense of private companies. Only later, especially in the late 90s of the twentieth century, the public authorities in the promotion of private initiative, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), decided to pay part of the taxes and apply tax relief for the majority of owners of private companies. The economic development of develop-ing countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo is dependent on the presence of SMEs due to the economic and social benefits they bring, including: creation of new jobs, poverty reduction, promotion of local raw materials, food self-sufficiency, etc. In recent years, many countries noted the growing importance and awareness, notably authorities on the impact of small and medium-sized enterprises in the development and diversification of industrial production. In the late 90s of the twenti-eth century. With the beginning in such a huge country’s process of democratization, we have seen many destructive actions such as looting of the national wealth, which caused the destruction of the economic base of the country, thus increasing unemployment, which already at that time was as at an alarming level, as well as reducing the purchasing power of the population. In recent years, one can observe the phenomenon of the increasing poverty of society, despite the emergence of an almost throughout the country for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and increase their numbers. The reasons for this state of affairs should be sought in the growing corruption, instability of the political situation of the country, the nature of ethnic conflicts and fears of society for the reduction in purchasing power and the loss of jobs, create a replacement factor of survival.