The information was released this Friday, at a press conference, by the governor of the National Bank of Angola (BNA), José de Lima Massano, at the end of the 108th ordinary meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (CPM).
José de Lima Massano stressed that the CPM decided to keep the basic interest rate at 19.5 percent, the rate on the permanent liquidity-providing facility at 21 percent, and the rate on the permanent liquidity-absorbing facility at 15 percent.
According to the governor of the central bank, the decision to maintain the course of monetary policy, despite the downward trajectory of inflation in the national economy, is based on the behavior observed in the foreign exchange market in October, when the currency fell against the dollar, by around 10.6 percent.
The governor of the BNA stressed that at the national level the macroeconomic fundamentals remain encouraging, noting that the external sector of the economy has been benefiting from the improvement in the terms of trade, with the goods account recording a surplus of 27.5 billion dollars, in accumulated terms until October 2022, an increase of 59.31 percent, compared to the same period in 2021.
"This performance reflects the 54.8 percent increase in the value of exports, which exceeded the 46.7 percent growth observed in imports," said José de Lima Massano, noting that, however, in the third quarter of this year, the The surplus of the goods account registered a reduction of around 18 percent compared to the previous quarter, as a result of the fall in the value of global exports, by 12 percent, and by the oil sector, by around 16.5 percent, in the last quarter.
In the real sector, the national accounts for the second quarter of 2022 released by the National Statistics Institute indicate a real growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of around 3.6 percent, year on year above that recorded in the first quarter.
The unemployment rate, highlighted José de Lima Massano, registered a decrease for the fourth consecutive quarter, having reached 30 percent in September 2022.
With regard to financial activity, and compared to December 2021, the governor of the BNA highlighted the 10.3 percent growth in the stock of credit granted in national currency, "despite the continuing concern with bad debt, which in the end October stood at 19.74 percent".
According to the governor of the Angolan central bank, inflation continues to decline, with 16.7 percent in October, below the rate of 18.2 percent in the previous month and 26.9 percent in the same period last year.
"This decline in inflation was influenced by the course of monetary policy and the stability of the supply of essential goods for broad consumption", he underlined.
