According to analysts from Banco Millenium Atlântico's research department, the one-off sale could be justified by increased market needs.
This was the BNA's first currency sale this year and corresponds to the largest amount sold since June 2023, when the central bank made 432.3 million dollars available to the market.
In negotiations on the Bloomberg platform, the average exchange rate was above the official exchange rate of 834 kwanzas against the dollar, as highlighted in the analysts' note, consulted by Lusa.
The exchange rate of the kwanza against the US dollar registered a slight depreciation in April, of 0.17 percent, standing at 834.06 kwanzas against the dollar and registered a monthly appreciation of 0.99 percent against the euro, to 891.44 kwanzas.
The performance of the kwanza "continues to reflect restrictions in the supply of currency to the market, and in the first four months of this year, exchange rate depreciation rose 0.7 percent, a relative stability when compared to the depreciation of 0.72 percent of the same period in 2023", said the analysts.
Atlântico's monthly analysis indicates that the informal foreign exchange market showed "a trend in line with that of the formal market", although the exchange rate difference reached an average of 32 percent in April, higher than the 20 percent target that the government set in the 2017-2018 Macroeconomic Stabilization Program.
Regarding the supply of currency, the BNA governor estimated an average supply of 600 million dollars per month, below the average monthly amount of 1.3 billion dollars sold in 2022.
"However, data obtained from Bloomberg reveal that foreign exchange sales for April 2024 reached an amount of 668.3 million dollars, which represents a monthly increase of 2.43 percent", according to the Atlantic's monthly analysis.
