Speaking to Lusa on the sidelines of the 3rd edition of the Angola Economic Outlook, Minister Vera Daves said that the agreement in principle provides for a renewal every 12 months, allowing the Angolan Treasury to reduce the guarantee reserve (escrow account) and thus have between 150 and 200 million (182 million euros) per month from that account until the end of the financing maturity.

This account refers to financial resources that are deposited in the creditor bank to ensure that Angola's commitments to China are met.

According to Vera Daves, Angola will also pay off the debt more quickly since whenever the price of a barrel of oil is above 60 dollars, the Angolan State can make additional payments.

The agreement with the Development Bank of China was negotiated in March and the Minister of State and Economic Coordination said at the time that the effects of this relief would already be felt from April.

Today, José de Lima Massano assured that the effects of the agreement with Chinese creditors on public accounts are already being felt.

"We were expecting an inflow of funds of 200 million dollars and we had triple that, which allowed us, in our relationship with our creditors, in the management of public debt, to have the capacity to honour our responsibilities with our own funds," the government official told journalists.

In other words, "there was no pressure on the domestic and foreign markets to meet these responsibilities and this leads to the release of more resources from the economy to support the private sector," he explained.

Lima Massano noted, however, that although "the signs" of relief are already visible on the economic side, the impact on people's lives "is not overnight".

The People's Republic of China is Angola's main creditor, with 17 billion US dollars (15.62 billion euros at the current exchange rate), representing about 27.41% of the government debt stock, which is 62 billion dollars.

During Angolan President João Lourenço's visit to Beijing this year, Luanda managed to sign agreements with Chinese creditor institutions to make the model for establishing guarantees based on the supply of oil more flexible, in relation to 10 billion dollars (9.2 billion euros at the current exchange rate) contracted with the Chinese Development Bank CDB.

With the agreement, the volume of the guarantee reserve (escrow account), constituted by the surplus between the supply of oil and the value necessary for servicing this debt, whose calendar remains unchanged, is reduced, the Angolan Treasury explained at the time.

New rules for the release by the Chinese side of the balances in the "escrow account" will come into effect, allowing the Angolan Treasury to have an additional 150 to 200 million dollars per month.

The Angola Economic Outlook 2024, organised by the magazine Economia e Mercado, is dedicated to the theme "Food Security: Reality, Challenges and Opportunities" in this edition.

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