MENU

angola
Tag Archive

Angola probes management at local unit of failed Portuguese bank: official

28 April 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

LUANDA (Reuters) – Angola has opened an investigation into the conduct of the management at the local unit of failed Portuguese bank Banco Espirito Santo, Attorney General Joao Maria de Sousa said on Wednesday.

Banco Espirito Santo (BES) collapsed in 2014 under the weight of its founding family’s debts and exposure to bad loans in Angola.

Portugal’s Novo Banco was carved out as the “good bank” from BES, while its Angolan unit Banco Espirito Santo Angola (BESA) was reincarnated as Banco Economico, with new shareholders including state oil company Sonangol.

“We have opened an inquiry on Banco Espirito Santo Angola management. This inquiry was an initiative of the bank shareholders,” de Sousa told reporters.

“I can not talk about the possibility of arrests in this process because I don’t know the facts.”

 

 

(Reporting by Herculano Coroado, Writing by Stella Mapenzauswa, Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Read more

Angola to open loan talks with IMF as oil price bites

6 April 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Latest Updates from Reuters, Politics

LUANDA (Reuters) – Angola will begin loan negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this month as lower oil prices hammer the finances of Africa’s second-largest crude exporter, the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday.

Angola’s economy has grown rapidly since a 27-year civil war ended in 2002, peaking at 12 percent three years ago, but a sharp drop in oil prices has sapped dollar inflows, dented the kwanza and prompted heavy government borrowing.

Oil output represents 40 percent of gross domestic product and more than 95 percent of foreign exchange revenue. Brent crude traded below $39 a barrel on Wednesday, down more than 30 percent compared with a year ago. [O/R]

“The government of Angola is aware that the high dependence of the oil sector represents vulnerability for the public finances and the economy in an extensive way,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

“The government requested the support of the IMF for a supplementary programme … taking account of the decline in the price of petroleum.”

Finance Minister Armando Manuel told Reuters in March that Angola had no plans to approach the IMF for loans.

Angola will work with the IMF to design reforms aimed at improving fiscal discipline, simplifying the tax system and increasing transparency in public finances and the banking sector, as part of loan talks, the ministry statement said.

It added that the focus of its economic diversification efforts will be growing the agriculture, fisheries and mining sectors.

The ministry said the government was also implementing an ambitious programme of fuel subsidy reforms to shore up the country’s finances.

 

(Reporting by Herculano Coroado; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Alison Williams)

 

Read more

Nigeria, Angola seek World Bank help as oil revenues slide

2 February 2016 Comments (1) Africa, Latest Updates from Reuters, Politics

LAGOS/LUANDA (Reuters) – Nigeria and Angola, Africa’s two biggest oil producers, are both in talks with the World Bank about support to help cope with low crude prices, weakening currencies and strained public finances.

Nigeria has held exploratory talks with the World Bank onborrowing to help fund a record budget in 2016 but has notapplied for any emergency loans, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosunsaid on Sunday.

Angola also held talks with the World Bank between Jan.25-29 about securing funding support in a deal that would seeAfrica’s second biggest oil producer implement unspecifiedreforms, the state news agency reported.

The World Bank and other institutions like the InternationalMonetary Fund have recommended that Nigeria and Angola devaluetheir currencies which both trade officially at huge premiumsto the secondary market. Devaluations could form part of loan deals, two bankingsources said on Monday. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari isagainst devaluing the naira.

The naira trades at around 197 against the dollarofficially compared to street rates as weak as 305, whileAngola’s kwanza is worth 155/$ but changes hands at morethan 400 against the greenback on the secondary market.

Nigeria is planning to borrow as much as $5 billion to helpfund a budget deficit due to a slump in vital oil revenues, ofwhich $4 billion might come from international institutions andthe rest from Eurobonds, Adeosun had said earlier this month.

“We have held exploratory talks with the World Bank. We havenot applied for emergency loans,” she told Reuters on Sunday.

Borrowing from international institutions such as the WorldBank would be a cost-effective way to raise money to fund theincreased capital expenditure in the 2016 budget, she said.

World Bank spokesman David Theis said the multilateral lender was in discussions with Nigeria to provide Development Policy Operation funding, which can take the form of a loan, grant or credit.

“Our support will be for a program of policy reform,” Theis said in an e-mailed statement, adding that the proposal will be submitted to the World Bank’s board of directors later this year.

The Financial Times had earlier reported that the WestAfrican nation had asked the World Bank and the AfricanDevelopment Bank for $3.5 billion in emergency loans.

In a written statement, Adeosun’s ministry also saidAfrica’s biggest economy was looking at “options” to borrow fromthe African Development Bank and export credit agencies such asChina Exim Bank “due to their concessionary rates of interest”.

Nigeria expects a budget deficit of 3 trillion naira in2016, up from 2.2 trillion naira previously estimated, as aslump in oil revenues has eroded public finances and hit itscurrency.

Oil exporters worldwide are experiencing similar fiscal strains amid surging crude output and slumping demand. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are now consulting with Azerbaijan regarding its financing needs.

 

(By Alexis Akwagyiram and Herculano Coroado. Additional reporting by David Lawder in Washington; Writing by Joe Brock and Ulf Laessing; Editing by Toby Chopra, Bernard Orr)

Read more

France’s Total eyes fuel stations in Angola, signs MOU

23 December 2015 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

LUANDA (Reuters) – France’s Total has signed an memorandum of understanding with Angola’s Sonangol, a first step to opening fuel stations in the southern African nation, Total told Reuters on Wednesday.

Angola, the continent’s second biggest oil exporter, said in October it is reorganising its oil sector and state-owned Sonangol, but details about the changes have been sparse.

Total, the largest foreign oil company producing in Angola, said the MOU was signed by chief executive Patrick Pouyanné on Monday and paves the way to a network of Total-branded stations in Angola.

“In a first phase, products would be obtained through Sonangol,” said a Total spokesman.

Sonangol has a refinery in Luanda that produces 56,000 barrels per day.

The state-owned company said in a separate statement the agreement could represent an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars, with benefits both immediate and long term.

“This action, via a consolidated partnership between the two companies, embodies the government’s strategy to liberalise trade in the sector,” Sonangol said.

Total said it will give more detail once the shareholder agreement with Sonangol is signed.

Angola’s finances have suffered as a result of a sharp slide in oil prices since mid-2014 as oil output represents 40 percent of its gross domestic product.

Sonangol is under pressure to show how it is boosting the downstream potential in Angola, which is a major producer of crude, but does not refine enough to meet its own fuel demand.

 

 

 

 

(Reporting by Herculano Coroado; Writing by TJ Strydom, editing by William Hardy)

Read more

Sinochem signs 10-year deal to buy oil from Angola’s Sonangol

16 December 2015 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

BEIJING/LONDON (Reuters) – China’s state-run Sinochem Group said on Wednesday it had signed a deal with Angolan state-owned producer Sonangol to buy crude oil for more than 10 years.

The statement on the Chinese company’s website did not give details of the supply amount or other financial details, but trading sources said the agreement was for four or five cargoes per month, which would make the company one of the largest holders of monthly contracts to buy Angolan crude.

There are currently around 15 cargoes given to these so-called term buyers each month from Angola’s export programmes of roughly 55 cargoes.

The deal is a coup for Angola, as OPEC members fight for market share, particularly in China, the world’s largest energy consumer.

While payment terms were not disclosed, sources said the deal directly related to loans that the Chinese government has given to Angola as its commodity-reliant economy struggles with the more than 60 percent drop in crude oil prices over the past year.

Along with the chairman of Sonangol, Angola’s financial minister, Armando Manuel, was present at the signing of the deal, as was Zheng Zhijie, president of China Development Bank.

A year ago, China agreed to lend Sonangol $2 billion to expand oil and gas projects, and Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos was in China in June seeking a two-year moratorium on debt repayments along with financing for a variety of projects, including a $4.5 billion hydropower scheme.

But the deal is also likely to push out another term contract holder, sources said. Sonangol has to trade some of its oil on a spot basis in order to establish prices for term agreements.

 

(By Chen Aizhu and Libby George. Editing by Christian Schmollinger and David Holmes)

Read more

The Fraught Four: China’s Economic Crash Has Serious Consequences for Four Southern African Nations

25 September 2015 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Featured

Africa-China-trade-007

By Enu Afolayan, Contributor

China is a superpower. If there was any lingering doubt as to this, it should have been erased as the widespread fall-out from China’s recent economic crash became evident. For Sub-Saharan Africa in particular, the impact of the crash was particularly harsh.

The stock market crash on August 24th had several immediate consequences: the yuan was devalued, there was a huge injection of capital into the Chinese economy to support financial markets and the risk of a decrease in Chinese tourism worried many nations.

China is the number one trading partner for most African countries. It has more than $20billion USD in investments in addition to billions in development aid. China is one of the biggest customers for Africa’s robust resource-selling market, particularly for mined minerals and crude oil. The devaluation of the yuan against the dollar will likely result in less demand for African goods as the purchasing power of the yuan plummets, thus increasing the relative price for Chinese consumers. For South Africa, Angola, Zambia and Sierra Leone in particular, China’s economic troubles may be manifested in crippling ways.

(more…)

Read more