Made in Congo, if that's best

The DR Congolese government has just launched a campaign to promote Congolese goods.  It is described in French here.

Where two consumer goods are of comparable standards, with one from abroad and one from Congo-Kinshasa, Congolese purchases seem likely to benefit the economy.  Local consumption of consumer goods (goods purchased by people for final use, rather than by companies for production of new goods) increases local demand and give companies the opportunity for accumulation of capital.  Even if locally produced consumer goods are slightly lower quality, then these reasons are strong enough to make the campaign a good idea.

A similar campaign might be a bad idea when it applies to capital goods (used by companies to produce other goods) if the locally produced capital goods are worse in quality than foreign produced capital goods.  In many cases, the capital goods may not be available locally.  Local companies can produce more and increase their productivity if they choose capital goods based on merit.