"We received the signal that the moratorium would not end in June 2021 and that it was possible to go until December 2021 and we are taking advantage of that opportunity. We foresee a saving of around 300 million dollars with that time window of six months and we are preparing to resume the responsibility that we have to face when this period ends," the official said at a press conference in Luanda, regarding the fifth assessment by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of the Extended Assistance program (EFF).
"What we have been doing is taking advantage of the willingness of countries that are part of the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) to extend it. Whenever there is a desire for these countries to respond to the Paris Club's call for the Initiative is extended, the countries that took advantage of the previous six months say: why not? And that's what happened," explained Vera Daves.
The Paris Club aims to financially help countries in economic difficulties. It was founded in 1956, is headquartered in Paris and has 22 members.
Angola announced last week that it would take advantage of the extension of the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative to also ask for the extension of the moratorium on unsecured bilateral debt service until the end of the year.
"After assessing the situation, the Government of Angola, through the Ministry of Finance, decided to take advantage of the final extension of the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) and asked its sovereign partners to continue the suspension of bilateral debt service not guaranteed from 1 July to 31 December 2021", said the Ministry of Finance at the time, in a statement.
According to information made available on the website of the National Bank of Angola, at the end of last year the bilateral debt amounted to US$5,774.1 million.
The executive does not foresee, for the time being, the need to get involved in more negotiations to reformulate the profile with creditors, in addition to those related to the implementation of the DSSI, according to the Ministry of Finance.
