The economy of the Republic of the Congo is a mixture of subsistence hunting and agriculture, an industrial sector based largely on petroleum extraction and support services.

[14] Nowadays the Republic of the Congo is increasingly converting natural gas to electricity rather than burning it, greatly improving energy prospects.

Congo took a number of measures to liberalize its economy, including reforming the tax, investment, labor, and hydrocarbon codes.

Planned privatizations of key parastatals, primarily telecommunications and transportation monopolies, were launched to help improve a dilapidated and unreliable infrastructure.

To build on the momentum achieved during the two-year period, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a three-year ESAF economic program in June 1996.

Denis Sassou-Nguesso, who returned to power when the war ended in October 1997, publicly expressed interest in moving forward on economic reforms and privatization and in renewing cooperation with international financial institutions.

[14] However, economic progress was badly hurt by slumping oil prices in 1998, which worsened the Republic of the Congo's budget deficit.

Congo's economic prospects remain largely dependent on the country's ability to establish political stability and democratic rule.

In the early 1980s, rapidly rising oil revenues enabled the government to finance large-scale development projects with GDP growth averaging 5% annually, one of the highest rates in Africa.

[citation needed] Congo plans to use the auction to grow its small oil industry, which only produces about 25,000 barrels a day from a project in the west of the country run by France’s Perenco SA.

The process has drawn criticism from environmental groups for offering blocks that overlap with Congo’s peatlands, which are among the world’s most important carbon sinks.

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 2.1% (2005) highest 10%: 37.1% (2005) Inflation rate (consumer prices): 6% (2011 est.)