Angola’s public debt stock expressed in dollars increased by 11.46 in 2023, reaching a maximum of 80.61 billion dollars, which represents more than 88% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
According to the annual report of the National Bank of Angola, dated 30 April and consulted this Wednesday, 1 May, by Lusa, the increase in the debt stock after two consecutive years of decline essentially reflects the unfavourable exchange rate evolution.
Angola’s public debt includes debt service with banks, multilateral and bilateral local and international financial institutions.
The stock of government debt stood at 53.08 billion kwanzas (63.26 million dollars), corresponding to 84% of GDP), an increase of 56% resulting from the behaviour of the external and internal components.
External debt, which accounts for 74.10 per cent of the total, totalled 39.33 billion kwanzas (46.87 million dollars), an increase of 63 per cent due essentially to the depreciation of the kwanza against the dollar.
External public debt includes financing from multilateral agencies, foreign governments and bilateral agencies, commercial banks and other financial institutions and private suppliers.
Domestic debt stood at 13.75 billion kwanzas (16.38 million dollars), 37.5 percent up on the previous year, “due to the overlap between issuance and amortisation, as well as the exchange rate appreciation of index-linked securities and those denominated in foreign currency,” says the BNA report.
Domestic debt includes securitised debt (treasury bills and bonds), loan contracts and arrears and liabilities from previous budget years.
The debt of public companies totalled 2.55 billion kwanzas (3.03 million dollars), compared to 2.30 billion kwanzas (2.7 million dollars) the previous year, of which 95.13% was owed by the state oil company Sonangol.
“This increase mainly reflects the depreciation of the kwanza by around 39.23 per cent against the US dollar,” the document explains.
The General State Budget (GSB) for 2024 foresees, among other measures, a reduction in the public debt ratio to 69.2 per cent of GDP.
According to the national companies cited in the BNA report, the GDP growth rate slowed to 0.9 per cent in 2023, driven by the 2.4 per cent contraction in oil activity and the slowdown in the non-oil sector, which grew 2 per cent compared to 4 per cent in 2022.
Among the sectors that recorded growth were diamond mining, electricity and water, real estate services, fisheries, agro-livestock and forestry and trade, which recorded growth rates of over 2.5 per cent.
The return of the oil and gas sector to the negative quadrant is justified in the BNA report by the fall in both the quantity of crude oil produced (-3.30 per cent) and liquefied natural gas (-8.74 per cent)
