The city-province of Kinshasa will soon be equipped with a housing bank. The announcement was made to the mayors and their deputies, the police commissioners and the heads of urban divisions by the first citizen of the city, Gentiny Ngobila Mbaka during the meeting held on Friday, August 2, at his office. .

The role of this bank will be not only to provide loans to third parties for the construction of houses, but also to build social housing, as is the case elsewhere. This is, according to him, a project that aims to reduce the cost of rent in the capital and ensure the mutualisation of the rental guarantee.

Of the rental guarantee

The initiative initiated by the governor of Kinshasa aims to put an end to the consumption of rental guarantees by the lessors. Thus, all income from the rental guarantee should be housed in deposit accounts and consignment.

This way of doing things would make it easier to raise funds to build

capital capable of carrying out large-scale social actions in this socio-economic sector.

In fact, the Building and Public Works sector accounted for 2.7% of national GDP in 2016. With its expansion, it is positioning itself as an important lever for the national economy.

From the levy of the IRL

Gentiny Ngobila also wants the rental income tax (IRL) to be paid through the housing bank that will be set up. To facilitate its collection and encourage its payment, it is expected a reduction of this tax to provincial jurisdiction whose current rate is 22%.

If so far, the height of this decline of the IRL has not been specified, the provincial government reassures that the law will be respected in terms of retrocession of the share to the municipalities.

For the governor, this reform has the advantage of restoring the authority of the state across the city and endowing itself with substantial financial means.

As a reminder, the Congolese financial market consists of 18 commercial banks, 34 microfinance institutions and two state funds. But none of them grants credits to more than seven years, nor is it specialized in mortgages.

The advent of this Housing Bank, so much advocated by the economic operator and current governor of the Ituri province Jean Bamanisa Saïdi, would have the role of financing the housing sector in order to increase its offer, providing specialized financial products, improving the well-being of the population through adequate housing and driving economic growth.

Agnes KAYEMBE