By Jorgelina do Rosario
WASHINGTON, Oct 14 (Reuters) – Angola’s government is focussed on securing more funding from multilateral lenders such as the World Bank for critical infrastructure projects, the country’s finance minister Vera Daves de Sousa told Reuters on Friday.
The government of Africa’s number two crude exporter is also ready to strike closer ties again with the International Monetary Fund if needed, said Minister Daves de Sousa, speaking in Washington where she is attending the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings.
Angola has pushed ahead with ambitious reforms, spurred by sovereign credit rating downgrades and tumbling bonds early in the pandemic, earning rating upgrades in recent months and placing its bonds and currency among Africa’s top performers.
“In the next five years our focus will be the real economy,” Daves de Sousa said.
“We are thinking to work more with World Bank and African Development Bank to focus on development projects that allow us to put electricity and water in the key provinces and unlock the development of those provinces.”
The minister didn’t specify the type of projects nor the amounts the country is discussing with multilateral lenders.
Speaking of the country’s relationship with the IMF, Daves de Sousa said Angola was not looking for any financing from the fund just now.
“We work hard and we are getting the results coming from the programme with the IMF,” she said, referring to the country’s $3.7 billion three-year programme which expired end-2021.
What needed to be done now was work closely with the IMF under the monitoring programme to embed the results and look what more reforms could be done, the minister said.
“That’s the strategy of cooperation with the IMF until now – of course we are open to explore other avenues.” (Reporting by Jorgelina do Rosario in Washington, editing by Karin Strohecker)
