"Those who look at Angola in the short term or who don't know the reality well are scared by these more specific macroeconomic situations, but those who look at the long term or those who are already used to investing in emerging economies normally look beyond that", said Indira Campos in an interview with Lusa, on the sidelines of the Doing Business forum, which took place on Tuesday in Lisbon.
Investors, he pointed out, are more willing to invest in this Portuguese-speaking African country "thanks to all the effort that the State has made in terms of reforms on the ease of doing business and specific sectoral reforms, and therefore there is much more openness of the entire type of investors", she considered.
International investors, she stressed, "do not stop looking at Angola because of these issues", added Indira Campos, referring to the devaluation of the kwanza in the first half of the year and the strong rise in inflation in recent months, a context also marked by the withdrawal of fuel subsidies and resumption of debt payments to China, which caused the debt-to-GDP ratio to soar.
"Of course, macroeconomic stability is a criterion for investors, but they also look at what they can or cannot develop in the country, so it is important that these investors find reliable local partners, or a financier who will help them structure the project, and it is in this aspect that the IFC comes in, because it brings an international guarantee and criteria, but they often also go to Angola directly with the local bank, which already has its own credibility", she concluded.
Last year, the IFC, the World Bank's arm for fostering private investment in developing countries, financed projects worth 11.5 billion dollars in 40 African countries in the 2023 fiscal year ending in June, of which 23.5 million dollars was invested in Angola in long-term debt and around 71 million dollars in short-term financing.
