Angola to keep growing at 15 pct: central banker
By Sergio Goncalves, Reuters, Tue 7 Oct 2008
Angola's economy is showing resilience in the face of the international financial crisis and should expand about 15 percent in 2009, a similar rate to this year, the deputy governor of the National Bank of Angola said.
"We think it (growth) will be about 15 percent this year," deputy governor Rui Miguens de Oliveira told Reuters. "Next year certainly it will be double digits and it is unlikely to be very different (from the 2008 forecast)."
He said Angola, one of the world's fastest-growing economies and a major crude producer, is facing the crisis with confidence as there has been significant investment in infrastructure, meaning the non-oil sector is growing faster than the petroleum sector.
The deputy governor said Angola's economy "remains resilient and, although all economies will suffer from this crisis, Angola is not excessively affected by it".
In 2007, Angola's GDP grew 17 percent. Angola's economy, which rivals Nigeria as Africa's biggest oil producer, is growing at some of the highest rates in the world as it rebounds from a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002.
"We cannot say that this crisis is passing us by, but it is not having an immediate, direct impact on our economy and any impact there is, is being diminished by our strong macroeconomic management," Miguens de Oliveira said.
He said that Angola has constantly posted balance of payments surpluses since 2005, which has led it to build foreign currency reserves of $19 billion.
"This gives us some comfort," he said. "If we compare that with our total foreign debt of $9 billion, today we have the capacity to completely pay off our foreign debt and still have a margin."
The deputy governor predicted that while the country has a medium-term target for inflation of 10 percent, inflation in 2008 was likely to end the year above 12.2 percent, the level reached in 2007.
"Unfortunately, with an acceleration mainly of food prices, it (inflation) may be about 13 percent this year," he said.
However, the African country's public sector deficit is on a stable footing, he said, adding that the deficit should be no more than 3 percent of GDP this year.
