"Regarding going to the markets, we have to look at the context: if we wanted to go to the markets today we would pay absurdly high prices due to economic conditions and perception regarding the situation of our public accounts", argued the Minister of Finance during an interview with AfricaNews website.
In the interview, Vera Daves said that the Government has privileged the contracting of concessional debt, that is, to multilateral entities or institutional creditors, with interest rates below those practiced by commercial banks.
According to data from the financial information agency Bloomberg, investors were demanding interest in the order of 13 percent, above the approximately 10 percent agreed in the last public debt issue that Angola made in the financial markets.
On the sustainability of the debt volume vis-à-vis the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a ministry considered that the ratio of more than 100 percent is sustainable and recalled that the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in the third review of the program, shares an opinion.
"This decision by the IMF management shows that they approved the program plan and proves that, despite the strong pressure, the debt is sustainable and so we will have access to a disbursement of 500 million dollars now, and another 500 million in the next review , being now available, in these days, a value of one billion dollars, due to the increase of the total amount of the loan] ", said the governor.
The covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the pressure on the national economy, which has been facing a recession for four years, and which is expected to continue this year, in addition to the fall in the price of raw materials, including oil, and slowdown in international demand and investment.
The IMF board of directors approved Angola's request for increased financial assistance last week, disbursing US $ 1 billion and bringing the total program to almost US $ 4.5 billion.
