According to the annual report of the National Bank of Angola, dated April 30 and consulted this Wednesday by Lusa, the increase in the debt stock after two consecutive years of decline essentially reflects unfavorable exchange rate developments.
The country's public debt comprises debt service owed to banks, local and international multilateral and bilateral financial institutions.
The government debt stock stood at 53.08 billion kwanzas (corresponding to 84 percent of GDP), an increase of 56 percent, resulting from the behavior of the external and internal components.
The external debt, which represents 74.10 percent of the total, totaled 39.33 billion kwanzas, an increase of 63 percent essentially justified by 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.
The internal debt registered a stock of 13.75 billion kwanzas, 37.5 percent above the previous year, "due to the overlapping of issuance, in relation to amortizations, as well as the exchange rate appreciation of indexed securities and denominated in foreign currency", indicates the BNA report.
Internal debt comprises securitized debt (treasury bills and bonds), loan contracts and arrears and liabilities from previous budgetary years.
The debt of public companies registered a stock of 2.55 billion kwanzas compared to 2.30 billion kwanzas the previous year, of which 95.13 percent are from the state oil company Sonangol.
"This increase mainly reflects the depreciation of the kwanza of around 39.23 percent against the US dollar", explains the document.
The General State Budget (OGE) for 2024 foresees, among other measures, the reduction of the public debt ratio to 69.2 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
According to the national figures cited in the BNA report, the growth rate of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) slowed to 0.9 percent in 2023, driven by the contraction of oil activity in 2.4 and the slowdown in the non-oil sector, which grew 2 percent compared to 4 percent in 2022.
Among the sectors that registered growth, diamond extraction, electricity and water, real estate services, fishing, agriculture and forestry and commerce stand out, which registered growth rates above 2.5 percent.
The return of the oil and gas sector to the negative quadrant is justified in the BNA report by the decline in both the quantity of crude oil produced (-3.30 percent) as well as liquefied natural gas (-8.74 percent).
