Investors praise DR Congo's improved business climate

The second edition of the DRC Country Risk Conference was well attended by investors and senior Congolese officials.

The DRC's Finance Ministry organised the conference to help investors understand the risks and opportunities in the country.

A study conducted by a pan-African rating agency known as Bloomfield showed that the DRC has improved its business climate.

"The grade this year has improved by 40 basis points from 5.1 to 5.5 on the scale of ten and that represents a moderate risk on our scale with regard to that methodology. What it means is that we are actually telling investors that they can come and invest in DRC," said Stanislus Zeze, the Chief Executive Officer of Bloomfield.

That has boosted the confidence of some investors in the DRC's mining sector.

"Overall, this is a good thing, because we can see that the government is willing to make improvements," said Marie-Chantal Kaninda, the Chief Executive Officer of Glencore DRC.

The DRC has been a difficult environment to do business in over the past four decades due to widespread corruption, low electricity coverage and poor infrastructure. In 2014, the World Bank's Doing Business report ranked it as 183rd out of 189 countries.

The Congolese President has vowed to take further steps improve the business climate.

The DRC has vast deposits of minerals. But millions of its citizens are living in poverty due to decades of conflict and political instability.