Angola: State preparing to go to public debt markets in 2022 – finance minister

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Angola: State preparing to go to public debt markets in 2022 – finance minister

6:47 CAT | 15 Nov 2021

Photo: Lusa

Angola’s finance minister, Vera Daves de Sousa, said on Monday that the country was preparing to issue public debt on the international markets again in 2022, and was considering going to the markets this year.

“For 2022, regardless of the issue of active debt in our portfolio, we want a new issue to the markets and we are preparing the 2022 debt plan with that in mind,” she said.

Angola’s last debt issue was made at the end of 2019, and since then the country has been sheltered from the financial markets, not only due to the high interest rates demanded by investors in a pandemic context, but also due to the financial support that the International Monetary Fund and other partners have given the country.

During the meeting with the media, Vera Daves de Sousa explained that the Government has a conservative posture with regard to debt and is proactively managing to find cheaper financing that will progressively reduce the volume of debt.

The ratio of debt to GDP has risen significantly in recent years, not so much due to the issue of new debt, but due to the devaluation of the kwanza and the effective reduction of GDP, given the recession of the last five years, which is expected to continue this year.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered its growth forecast for Angola in its latest report on sub-Saharan Africa, released in October, and now projects a recession of 0.7 percent, the sixth consecutive annual fall in the country’s wealth, which is expected to grow by 2.4 percent in 2022.

Public debt, in turn, will continue this year above 100% of GDP, dropping from 136.5% last year to 103.7% this year and 90.8% in 2022, which contrasts with the government’s 85% forecast for this year.

The State Budget proposal for 2022 was approved on first reading on 9 November and will now be discussed in committee.

Source: Lusa