Luanda – The Minister of State for Economic Coordination, Manuel Nunes Júnior, said today in Luanda that the Angolan Government was confident of balancing public accounts in the medium term, judging, fundamentally, by the positive results of negotiations with international partners.
Speaking at a press conference about the “Fifth Evaluation of the International Monetary Fund to the Extended Credit Facility – EFF,” the minister said that Angola had been negotiating with bilateral and multilateral creditors, with a view to redesigning the profile of its debts.
These negotiations, Nunes Júnior said, have brought very positive results, particularly in the area of debt guaranteed with oil, making it possible to free up important resources for the country’s economic management, which increases the feeling of hope and confidence in the future.
“Some results may not be immediate, but we are on the right track to fulfil our complex and historic mission of changing, in definitive terms, the current economic structure of Angola, which is still very dependent on the oil sector,” the Minister of State for Economic Coordination stressed.
He noted the recent disbursement of US$772 million by the IMF to Angola, after its Board of Directors concluded the fifth review (on 9 June) of the Extended Fund Programme it is carrying out with the country.
He specified that the total disbursements of the International Monetary Fund, under the said programme, approved in December 2018, is USD 3.9 billion, and at the time a funding of USD 3.7 billion was foreseen.
“However, at the third review of the programme, carried out in September 2020 and with a view to supporting the efforts of our Government to combat Covid-19, the IMF accepted the request from the Angolan government to increase the funding by USD765 million,” he told the journalists.
In this regard, he said, “the positive assessment and praise of yet another evaluation of this IMF programme is a very clear sign of the international financial community’s confidence in the country’s Reform Programme being led by the Angolan government, headed by President João Lourenço.
Source: Angola Press News Agency