Congo Republic cuts budget by nearly 12 pct amid oil price drop

Congo Republic's parliament has voted to cut the current 2015 budget by nearly 12 percent to compensate for a sharp drop in world oil prices, according to the modified text seen by Reuters on Saturday.

Congo is on track to reverse a decline in production and leapfrog Equatorial Guinea to become sub-Saharan Africa's third-largest crude producer by 2017, and oil accounts for around 65 percent of gross domestic product.

However crude markets collapsed in the first half of this year, cutting into the revenues of producer countries.

Congo's budget, voted by the two houses of parliament, was cut from an initial 3.07 trillion CFA francs ($5.22 billion) to 2.715 trillion CFA francs.

Spending was trimmed across the board, with investment spending slashed by nearly a quarter to around 1.11 trillion CFA francs. Salaries for state employees and debt service were the only two areas where spending was not affected.

($1 = 587.9200 CFA francs)