The funds are set to be released in spite of donor opposition to parts of a $9bn minerals-for-infrastructure deal that Congo has signed with China, which is holding up poverty reduction programmes financed by traditional western donors.

Congo has been hit harder and faster by the global financial crisis than other African countries owing to its heavy dependence on mining and oil, as well as the confluence of last year's falls in commodity prices with a costly conflict in its eastern provinces.

The events have created a fiscal emergency as government revenues from tax and state joint ventures shrink, causing foreign currency reserves to plummet to just $32m by February 13 from an average of around $250m before the crisis last year, according to the central bank.