Angola 

Angola country policy

Policy established 29 March 2011

• Guarantee of monetary authority (Ministry of Finane, central bank) (unconditional)
• The country ceiling is 1000 mln euro
• Early warning signal 400 mln euro
• - of which was used as at 2012-02-29 153 mln euro

Country class: 6

of garantie centrale overheid of Sonangol (onvoorwaardelijk)

or guarantee central government, Sonangol

Voor contante zaken in de olie- en gassector is deze zekerheidseis voorwaardelijk

For cash business in the oil and gas sector the security demand may be waived

Good governance control

Angola country facts

Country Report last updated: 8 December 2010     Atradius Dutch State Business Economic Research

Country :  ANGOLA 

Political Situation
Rather Stable

Head of state
President José Eduardo dos Santos, since 1979, he is both chief of state and head of government.

Form of government :  Coalition-government strongly dominated by MPLA.
 
International relations
Good relations with neighbouring countries, USA and China. Traditionally cool relation with IMF is improving. OPEC member. Strong economic and cultural ties with Portugal and Brazil.
Member of
AU; IMF, IBRD, SADC, COMESA, WTO, AfDB, OPEC
 
Internal Economic Situation
Booming Oil Sector

General situation
Abundant natural resources (oil and diamonds) and a large agricultural potential (coffee, sugar, bananas, palm oil, sisal) but a large part of food needs and all consumer goods must be imported, due to the destruction of physical infrastructure and the widespread existence of minefields caused by the civil war. The economy is very dependant on oil and (to a lesser extend) diamonds. The revenues are very unequally distributed, Luanda and Cabinda, and in particular the political elite, benefit much more than other Angolans. A lack of transparency about public finance (including Sonangol & Endiama), public debt and foreign reserves is a significant risk. The central bank has introduced exchange controls (Dutch auction) which results in payment delays.
Angola reached an agreement with the IMF in 2009 about a very large $ 1.4 billion SBA. The program focuses on fiscal policy, exchange rate adjustment and financial sector safeguard. In a recent review the IMF criticized the $ 8 billion arrears to private (domestic?) creditors.    
 
External Economic Situation
Current Account Balanced

Main sources of foreign exchange
oil & gas (ca. 90%), diamonds

Main foreign markets
USA (39%), China (29%), France (8%), Chile (5%)

Main expenses of foreign exchange
Consumer goods, intermediate goods, capital goods.
 
Balance of payments 
After years of very large surpluses, the lower price of oil (and diamonds) in combination with persistently rising imports have resulted in a much smaller surplus