The inflation rate in Angola is expected to fall below 10% by 2022, and interest rates should also continue on a downward trajectory, the governor of the National Bank of Angola told Bloomberg.
Jose Lima Massano, on the sidelines of his participation in the United Nations General Assembly in New York, said he still believed that there was scope for lowering interest rates, “to give companies a better chance of survival.”
“If we are unable to achieve stability in terms of inflation and foreign currency, we are not building the infrastructure that promotes sustainable growth,” he said, arguing that it is essential to pursue this growth “due to the current state” of the Angolan economy.
Angola is expected to face the fourth consecutive year of economic recession this year, with year-on-year inflation of 17.9% in August, government debt above 80% of gross domestic product and foreign reserves falling to around US$10 billion.
The governor recalled that Angola had embarked on a reform programme in the country’s banking sector, burdened with bad credit, focused more at production than on importing commodities, and recalled the privatisation programme involving more than 150 companies over the next three to four years.
Source: Macauhub