Services provide a major portion of GDP, making a 37 percent contribution in 1997, second only to industry's 59 percent (largely composed of oil production).
One major services area in the Congo is the public bureaucracy. In the early 1990s, the Congolese government was the biggest employer in the country, with a pay-roll in excess of 80,000. This was a severe drain on the country's resources. Due to pressure from the World Bank and other institutions, the government made major cuts in the number of civil servants as well as their salaries. Since the mid-1990s, the payroll has been cut in half and nearly 8,000 government employees have been let go.
Figures for other aspects of the service sector such as banking are sketchy. Most of the service industry is located in Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville. As of 2001, the government was engaged in intensive talks with the World Bank, the IMF, and other bodies in an effort to renegotiate aid packages and rebuild the banking system.
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