"There was no formal request for a program with the IMF, but we have basically continued to maintain a very close dialogue with the authorities since the end of the 2021 program in two modalities: advice on economic policies and technical assistance and capacity building," said Victor Duarte Lledo in statements to Lusa on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, which ended on Saturday in Washington.
"This type of notes and advice is very common, they are specific reports and notes that we issue at the request of the authorities, the government and the monetary authorities," said the Brazilian economist.
Asked whether the announcement of the request for a technical note on financing options, confirmed to Lusa by the Minister of Finance last week, is not a first step towards a financial aid program, he replied: "We have had a very strong involvement in technical assistance and capacity building, Angola is one of the largest recipients of technical assistance in sub-Saharan Africa and we have several missions to strengthen the technical capacities of the institutions, focused mainly on fiscal, monetary and financial policies."
"We are preparing an Article IV mission [the IMF's annual review of a member country's economy] in early December, and that is when we will assess the policies and reforms of the past year, and what the authorities are planning to implement in the following year, and we will release the findings in February or March 2025," he added.
On Thursday, financial news agency Bloomberg reported that Angola was in negotiations with the IMF for a new financial assistance program, citing Finance Minister Vera Daves.
"We are in negotiations, we even have a note with the options," the minister said, adding that "after the technical assessment, the discussion will be political."
Later, in statements to Lusa, she stated: "What we asked the IMF for was a note with options on what a program could be, and what we are doing is analyzing it internally at the Ministry of Finance; we have not started any kind of negotiation, we have requested information and we are analyzing it, but we have not yet had the opportunity to discuss it at other levels, within the government, it is really an internal technical work of the Ministry".
"If there is a financing gap, which we generally have and we seek from different sources, multilateral institutions, due to the financial conditions they bring with them, are always a good option to consider", she also said.
Asked whether announcing that the IMF had been asked to prepare a note on options for financial adjustment programs was not a first step towards the existence of a program, the minister responded that "it could be said that it was", but insisted that "the topic was not discussed politically, it is at a technical level so that all options are on the table".
