Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, Republic of Angola President. The head-of-state of this oil-rich nation has announced that national elections will be postponed.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire Photo File
ANGOLA TO USE IMF CASH TO SHORE UP CURRENCY: MINISTER
Angola's economy minister told state radio Wednesday that the
country would use its just-announced IMF loans to boost its foreign
reserves and reduce pressure on the national currency.
On Tuesday the southern African country reached a preliminary
deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan
programme worth an estimated 900 million dollars over 27 months.
Angola needs the money after the fall in the price of oil --
which supplies 90 percent of its income -- caused its international
reserves to fall by 30 percent between January and June.
This caused a shortage of dollars, used for salaries and most
business transactions, leaving bills and wages unpaid. The national
currency, the kwanza, is currently selling at 100 to the dollar on
the black market, 28 percent above the official bank rate of 78.
In an interview on state radio, Economy Minister Manuel Nunes
said: "Our approach has been to see how they (the IMF) can support
Angola in financing the balance of payments."
Referring to the disparity between the official and parallel
kwanza rate, he said: "The solution to this type of situation is to
increase the supply of currency in the economy and this increase
will cause the current process, the depreciation of the national
currency, to be minimised or even eliminated."
The IMF deal -- Angola's first partnership with the organisation
since the end of civil war in 2002, following previously frosty
relations -- is expected to be cemented in November.
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