The once bustling streets of Goma, the capital of North Kivu in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, have now fallen into silence. This is due to the unprecedented economic and financial crisis that the city has been experiencing since the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels took control of the city last month.
Businesses are struggling to survive, as financial transactions have become nearly impossible. People are having a hard time making ends meet. Gaston Mumbere, a resident of Goma, is worried about how he will pay his bills at the end of February. He says, “We are suffering a lot, and our families are also victims of the lack of circulation of money between people. The banks are not functioning, and now we are realizing that weapons kill people, but hunger will also kill us.”
The closure of banks and cooperatives, a direct consequence of the ongoing insecurity in the city, has paralyzed monetary transactions and disrupted the daily lives of its two million inhabitants. In Virunga, the town’s main market, sellers struggle to find buyers, and sometimes they go home with nothing. Collette Musumba, a bean seller at the market, said, “We used to earn up to 100,000 Congolese francs ($36), but today it’s hard to earn even 30,000 Congolese francs ($11). I don’t sell much in a day, and I close the goods to go home and cook for the children.”
Even local government and business employees have yet to receive their salaries since the city was taken over by the M23. This situation has led analysts to fear the collapse of the economic system in the city, where the United Nations says the humanitarian situation is already alarming.
Deogracias Bengehya, a professor of economics at Goma University, says customers no longer trust banks or microfinance institutions (MFIs). He explained, “MFIs will be in trouble even compared to banks. Why is that? Because the banks have representatives elsewhere, but there are MFIs that are not represented elsewhere and are only in Goma.”
In mid-February, North Kivu’s governor, appointed by the M23 alliance, met in Goma with the heads of the banking institutions to discuss the reopening of the banks as soon as possible and in good security conditions. However, no solution has yet been found.
The current financial crisis highlights the fragility of the economic system in Goma and the urgent need for intervention to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.
Source: http://www.africanews.com/2025/02/28/dr-congos-goma-faces-economic-and-financial-crisis-following-m23-takeover/
