<p>LUANDA, May 11 (Reuters) &#8211; Angola plans to privatise 74 state companies over the next few years, predominantly those in the industrial sector, according to the prospectus sent to investors as part of the country’s Eurobond issuance.</p>
<p>Africa’s second-largest crude producer has been battered by a fall in the price of oil over the past four years and President João Lourenço, who took office in September, has pledged to reduce state interference in the economy, which remains centrally controlled after years of civil war and Soviet influenced state building following independence from Portugal in 1975.</p>
<p>“Generally, the government intends to sell its entire interest in these companies, the majority of which operate in the industrial sector,” the prospectus, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, said.</p>
<p>The prospectus does not list the companies or say how much the privatisations could raise, but a government source told Reuters that Angola’s ports, national carrier TAAG, BCI bank, and insurer Ensa were all being considered for full or partial privatisation.</p>
<p>“The government’s long-term policy is that companies which, in the government’s view, are not required to remain under public ownership as a matter of policy should eventually be privatised,” the prospectus added.</p>
<p>Lourenço aims to revive growth by opening the economy to foreign investors and diversifying away from oil, which currently accounts for 95 percent of exports.</p>
<p>Angola is in the process of raising $3 billion through two Eurobond issues, launching $1.75 billion in 10-year notes at 8.25 percent and a $1.25 billion 30-year tranche at 9.375 percent.</p>
<p>In the prospectus, Angola also said it saw its total debt – excluding that held by state oil firm Sonangol – reaching $77.3 billion, or 70.8 percent of GDP, by the end of 2018. (Reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer Editing by Ed Stoddard and Susan Fenton)</p>


This is what Angola is telling investors to get them to invest in its Eurobonds

<p>LUANDA (Reuters) &#8211; Angola’s finance ministry said it had requested non-financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund to help it implement economic reforms, as Africa’s second-largest crude producer continues to suffer from a lower oil price.</p>
<p>The agreement, known as a Policy Coordination Instrument, “will help to improve the external credibility of our country with positive impact on the ability to attract Foreign Direct Investment,” the finance ministry said in a statement late on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The ministry said it wanted help in implementing the Macroeconomic Stabilisation Plan, which is effectively the economic policy of the new Angolan government, but did not say what form this should take.</p>
<p>President João Lourenço, who took over last September after 38 years of rule by José Eduardo dos Santos, has said he wants to bring about an economic miracle in Angola by opening up to foreign investment and diversifying away from oil which accounts for over 90 percent of exports.</p>
<p>Lourenço is trying to resolve a dollar liquidity squeeze that has made it difficult for foreign companies to repatriate profits and discouraged many from investing in sub-Saharan Africa’s third-largest economy. On the streets of Luanda, a dollar goes for nearly twice the official rate.</p>
<p>A devaluation of around 30 percent to the dollar this year has gone some way to closing the gap with the street rate.</p>
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<p>Angola has been trying to persuade international banks to rekindle dollar correspondent relationships with the country, which were cut over the past few years due to perceived compliance risks in doing business there.</p>
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<p class="content_27_rw">Reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer; Editing by Alexander Winning and David Stamp</p>
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In search of an ‘economic miracle’ Angola taps into the IMF

<p>Port Louis, April 11 (Reuters) &#8211; Mauritius has frozen bank accounts and suspended business licenses linked to Quantum Global Investment Management, a firm through which Angola’s sovereign wealth fund invests much of its cash, according to a court document and a regulatory source.</p>
<p>Quantum Global, which said it was cooperating with authorities, is run by Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais, a business partner of Jose Filomeno dos Santos. The son of José Eduardo dos Santos, Angola’s former president, Jose Filomeno dos Santos was until recently the head of the national sovereign wealth fund.</p>
<p>The younger dos Santos has been charged with fraud against Angola’s central bank, involving the transfer of $500 million in the United Kingdom. The funds were frozen and then returned to Angola’s central bank.</p>
<p>The moves at Quantum Global came after Angolan officials visited Mauritius last week, a regulatory source on Mauritius told Reuters.</p>
<p>Following a Mauritius Supreme Court ruling, seen by Reuters on Wednesday, the island’s Financial Services Commission suspended the licenses for seven Quantum Global funds, according to the source, and froze 25 of its bank accounts.</p>
<p>On Monday, the Mauritian newspaper Le Mauricien reported that a further 33 bank accounts had been frozen, bringing the total to 58.</p>
<p>“There was a reputational risk on our jurisdiction, therefore we had to act promptly,” the Mauritian regulatory official told Reuters, adding that the steps had been taken in collaboration with investigations by Angolan authorities.</p>
<p>In a statement, Zurich-based Quantum Global said it was cooperating with the relevant authorities. “We remain confident and resolute in our ability to defend ourselves vigorously against the unwarranted attacks on our reputation,” Quantum said in the statement.</p>
<p>It has denied any links to the $500 million transfer that was frozen in Britain.</p>
<p>Angola’s Finance Ministry, which has led previous investigations of financial malpractice, did not respond to a request for comment.</p>
<p>Dos Santos is the highest-profile figure to be investigated for corruption since President Joao Lourenco took power last September, vowing to combat years of endemic graft in Africa’s second-largest oil producer.</p>
<p>His half-sister, Isabel dos Santos, has also been removed as chair of state oil company Sonangol. (Reporting by Jean Paul Arouff in Port Louis, additional reporting and writing by Stephen Eisenhammer in Luanda, editing by Larry King)</p>


Mauritius freezes funds linked to Angola’s sovereign wealth fund

<p class="">LUANDA, March 26 (Reuters) &#8211; The son of Angola’s ex-president, José Filomeno dos Santos, has been charged with fraud relating to a $500 million transaction out of an account belonging to the central bank, the prosecutor general’s office said on Monday.</p>
<p class="">Dos Santos is the highest profile figure to be charged since President Joao Lourenco succeeded former leader Jose Eduardo dos Santos last September vowing to tackle an endemic culture of corruption.</p>
<p class="">British authorities that froze the $500 million in the UK due to suspicions over the transaction have said the money can be returned to Angola.</p>
<p class="">Dos Santos, the former head of Angola’s $5 billion sovereign wealth fund, could not immediately be reached for comment.</p>
<p class="">The former governor of the central bank, Valter Filipe da Silva, has also been charged with fraud in relation to the case, prosecutors said in comments transmitted by state radio.</p>
<p class="">Da Silva could not be contacted for comment.</p>
<p class="">Dos Santos’ passport has been seized and he is forbidden from leaving the country.</p>
<p class="">Prosecutors said that the alleged fraud does not fall under any of Angola’s amnesty’s for financial wrongdoing or repatriation of overseas funds and the crime would not be pardoned.</p>
<p class="">“A pardon will not work&#8230; this case will run to its final outcome,” vice prosecutor and head of the National Directorate for Criminal Investigations Luis Benza Zanga said. (Reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer Editing by Joe Brock)</p>


Angola charges son of ex-president dos Santos with fraud

<p class="">LUANDA, March 19 (Reuters) &#8211; Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said on Monday $500 million frozen in the UK as part of an ongoing investigation into a potential fraud against Angola’s central bank can be returned to the southern African country.</p>
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Da Silva is the most high profile person to be charged and publicly named since President João Lourenço took power last September vowing to combat years of endemic graft.</p>
<p class="">Angolan state media has since reported that da Silva has been questioned by prosecutors and is banned from leaving the country.</p>
<p class="">The NCA said it welcomed the cooperation with Angolan authorities.</p>
<p class="">“The necessary authority has now been provided for the monies to be returned to the Angolan Authorities,” an emailed response to questions said.</p>
<p class="">The NCA added that it had prevented the money from being transferred in December and January using new provisions within the Criminal Finances Act 2017. ( Editing by James Macharia)</p>


Britain says $500mln from alleged central bank fraud can be returned to Angola

<p>Angola’s ruling MPLA chief former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos told the party’s central committee meeting that it should choose a new leader in December this year or April 2019.</p>
<div id="attachment_42722" style="width: 636px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-42722" class="wp-image-42722 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/jos__eduardo_dos_santos-wikipedia.jpg" alt="Angola postpones $1.5 bln Eurobond due to weak economy: source" width="626" height="400" /><p id="caption-attachment-42722" class="wp-caption-text">Photo: Wikipedia</p></div>
<p class="">Dos Santos handpicked Angola’s new President João Lourenço to succeed him when he stepped down last year after 38 years in power, but held onto his position as head of the party, creating two centres of power in the oil-producing nation.</p>
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<p class="content_27_rw">Reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer; Editing by James Macharia</p>
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Angola’s ruling party chief Dos Santos wants new MPLA leader chosen in Dec or April 2019

<p>Angola’s economic growth is expected to quicken to 2.25 percent this year from one percent in 2017, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-301965 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Angola_National_Assembly_Building_wikipedia.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="768" /></p>
<p class="">Angola’s economy is expected to expand by 2.25 percent this year from 1 percent in 2017 and growth should reach 5 percent in the medium-term, Ricardo Velloso, IMF division chief for Africa, told reporters in Luanda.</p>
<p class="">Since coming to power in September, Lourenco has vowed to revive sub-Saharan Africa’s third largest economy, attract investment and combat the endemic corruption that plagued the 38 year rule of his predecessor Jose Eduardo dos Santos.</p>
<p class="">Velloso said Lourenco’s government had already supported the economy by devaluing the kwanza currency, promising to reduce debt and restructuring state oil company Sonangol. He also said higher oil prices had helped.</p>
<p class="">“The Angolan economy is experiencing a mild recovery. The new administration is rightly focusing on restoring macroeconomic stability and improving governance,” the IMF told reporters in Luanda.</p>
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<p class="">“Over the medium term, the outlook is for continued gradual recovery in economic activity but there are risks, including a decline in oil prices and slippages in implementation of the structural reforms to promote economic diversification.”</p>
<p class="">The IMF does not think a bailout is necessary despite Angola’s heavy debt burden and high inflation, saying Lourenco’s reform plans and a buoyant global debt market should help stabilizes public finances, Velloso said.</p>
<p class="">The IMF supports the Angolan government’s policy of extending maturities on debt rather than restructuring, he said.</p>
<p class="">“With the higher oil price and decent access to external financing for frontier and emerging markets there isn’t a need for IMF financing for Angola,” Velloso said in response to a question about a possible bailout.</p>
<p class="">“Obviously if we receive a request we will analyze it with care like with any member country of the IMF.”</p>
<p class="">Inflation was expected to reach 24.75 percent year-on-year by the end of the year compared to 22.72 percent in January, the IMF predicts.</p>
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<p class="content_27_rw">Reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Edmund Blair and Toby Chopra</p>
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Angola’s economic growth seen rising to 2.25% this year: IMF

<p class="">LUANDA, March 2 (Reuters) &#8211; Angola has offered investors diamond exploration licenses that previously belonged to Isabel dos Santos, daughter of the former president, according to a video clip of a closed-door meeting with mining companies seen by Reuters.</p>
<p class="">During the meeting at a mining conference in Cape Town last month, president of state diamond company Endiama, José Manuel Ganga Júnior, said the licenses had expired and were now available for new exploration partners.</p>
<p class="">Isabel dos Santos is Africa’s richest woman with assets across multiple sectors in Angola and Portugal from jewellery to supermarkets. Her family has been a powerful force in Angola for four decades but her star has faded since her father, President José Eduardo dos Santos, stepped down last year.</p>
<p class="">His successor President João Lourenço promised to tackle family monopolies and make Angola more attractive to investors. He dismissed her as chair of state oil company Sonangol, Angola’s most important firm, in November.</p>
<p class="">The licenses for primary deposits mentioned in slides accompanying the presentation, a copy of which Reuters has also seen, were for Camafuca-Camazambo, Mulepe, Sangamina, Chiri, and Tchiegi. All are located in the north-eastern diamond producing provinces of Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul.</p>
<p class="">A source in the Angolan diamond industry told Reuters the Camafuca-Camazambo and Chiri licenses had previously been in the hands of Isabel dos Santos.</p>
<p class="">Representatives for Isabel dos Santos did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p>
<p class="">“It is true that these kimberlites (a geological formation of igneous rock in which diamonds are sometimes found) we presented to promote and offer for exploration were already granted as licenses in the past, many years ago,” Ganga Junior said in the video.</p>
<p class="">A spokesman at Endiama confirmed the video was authentic and that the licenses were offered to investors. The Ministry of Natural Resources directed questions to the state company.</p>
<p class="">“These licenses have expired &#8230; At this time, we don’t have any commitment with any former owners of these projects,” Ganga Junior said.</p>
<p class="">Angola is one of the world’s top 5 diamond producers, but much of the territory remains under-explored due to 27 years of civil war and a closed, difficult business environment since fighting ended in 2002.</p>
<p class="">Lourenço took power in September and says he wants to shed Angola’s image as an opaque oil economy with rampant corruption. He wants to attract international investors and has made changes to wrest power from dos Santos, pushing out some of his key allies.</p>
<p class="">Russia’s Alrosa is the only major diamond company currently producing in Angola via its stake in the Catoca mine &#8211; one of the world’s largest.</p>
<p class="">“We are ready to start from zero to negotiate in the best conditions, the best possibilities for the good of Endiama, our country and potential shareholders,” Ganga Junior said.</p>
<p class="">“Apart from Endiama which has to be a partner by law, the rest is open.” (Editing by Ed Stoddard and Anna Willard)</p>


Isabel dos Santos’ former diamond rights offered to Angola

<p class="MegaArticleBody_first-p_2htdt">Africa has emerged as the world’s No. 2 banking market in terms of growth and profitability, according to a study by management consulting firm McKinsey and Company.</p>
<div id="attachment_106420" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-106420" class="wp-image-106420 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Africashutterstock_110973782.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="600" /><p id="caption-attachment-106420" class="wp-caption-text">Photo: Shutterstock</p></div>
<p class="">Low banking penetration and income levels, as well as economies that are largely cash-based and viewed as a high credit risk, have long been considered major obstacles to the development of the continent’s banking sector.</p>
<p class="">But the McKinsey report released on Wednesday &#8212; drawing on performance data from 35 of Africa’s leading banks and surveys of banking executives and customers &#8212; said the number of banked Africans grew from 170 million in 2012 to nearly 300 million last year.</p>
<p class="">That figure is expected to rise to 450 million in the next five years, with banking revenue rising to $129 billion from about $86 billion now.</p>
<p class="">“Globally, the banking industry is facing disappointing returns and sluggish growth,” the report said. “Africa’s banking sector provides a refreshing contrast. Its markets are fast-growing and nearly twice as profitable as the global average.”</p>
<p class="">However, that growth is by no means evenly spread, either geographically or among income groups.</p>
<p class="">Only five countries &#8212; South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Angola and Morocco &#8212; currently account for 68 percent of Africa’s total banking revenue.</p>
<p class="">And about 60 percent of the total retail revenue growth of nearly $18 billion expected over the next five years will be concentrated in South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco and Ghana.</p>
<p class="">“Where you are in Africa matters &#8211; in a big way,” the report said. “About 65 percent of African banks’ profitability and 94 percent of their revenue growth are attributable to their geographical footprint.”</p>
<p class="">And though only 15 percent of Africans had annual income above $5,000 last year, McKinsey’s research indicated that nearly 70 percent of retail banking revenue growth through 2025 will come from customers earning between $6,000 and $36,000.</p>
<p class="">Meanwhile, heavy staff costs and labor-intensive, paper-dominated processes hold back productivity, the report said.</p>
<p class="">Credit risk also remains a concern, with non-performing loans accounting for more than 5 percent of African banks’ portfolios.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw">Reporting by Joe Bavier; Editing by David Goodman</p>
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Africa has world’s second-fastest banking growth and profitability: McKinsey

<p>Oil production for Angola, Africa’s No. 2 crude producer, averaged 1.632 million barrels per day in 2017, down from 1.72 million barrels the previous year, the chairman of the state-run oil company Sonangol said on Wednesday.</p>
<div id="attachment_42263" style="width: 2010px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-42263" class="wp-image-42263 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/angola-wikipedia.png" alt="" width="2000" height="1333" /><p id="caption-attachment-42263" class="wp-caption-text">Photo: Wikipedia</p></div>
<p class="">Angola has been grappling with the effects of generally depressed oil prices on its government finances but is constrained from lifting production because it is committed to OPEC-mandated cuts.</p>
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<p class="">Angola is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and it must limit output in line with OPEC’s commitment to cut output by about 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) as part of a deal with Russia and others.</p>
<p class="">Sonagol chairman Carlos Saturnino also told a media briefing that the net profit for Sonangol, which regulates Angola’s oil sector, was $224 million in 2017 versus $81 million the previous year when oil prices were lower.</p>
<p class="">It was his first briefing since Angola President João Lourenço fired Isabel dos Santos, daughter of his presidential predecessor, from the helm of Sonangol.</p>
<p class="">Lourenço took power in September and is seeking to win credibility with international investors and shed Angola’s image as an opaque oil economy with rampant corruption.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw">Reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer; Writing by Ed Stoddard; Editing by James Macharia</p>
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Angola oil production declines slightly in 2017, profits rise

<p><em>Mohamed M Diatta | Sciences Po – USPC</em></p>
<p>At a time where Africa has seen a few long-standing leaders exit, the issue of change in power is occupying minds of citizens as well as those in leadership positions.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-290966 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Angola_Joao-Lourenço_Dos-Santos_GettyImages.png" alt="" width="850" height="566" /></p>
<p>In spite of their varied repertoire of tactics to remain in power, no one is immune to the wave of change in leadership that has led many African presidents to lose their coveted top job.</p>
<p>Whether through elections, succession battles, coups or end of terms in office it has become a question of when and how they will exit. That’s if one is not too concerned with what comes afterwards. Though it is too early to tell whether meaningful changes can be expected, cases such as Zimbabwe suggest that its citizens can envisage more of the same.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, a review of developments in 2017 shows that it was a fruitful year for those advocating change. Examples include the Gambia where Adama Barrow came in as a promising new leader. Angola’s Joao Manuel Lourenço rose to power and immediately replaced some top public servants, raising hopes that he might champion good governance, although there hasn’t been an overhaul of the system.</p>
<p>In any case, the arrival of a ‘new’ leader in power always brings optimism for change and constitutes an opportunity for new beginnings.</p>
<h2>The big changes of 2017</h2>
<p>In the Gambia Yahya Abdul-Aziz Jammeh decided to hang onto power following his electoral defeat to Adama Barrow.</p>
<div id="attachment_299592" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-299592" class="wp-image-299592 size-medium" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Gambia-President_Adama-Barrow_GettyImages-300x200.png" alt="" width="300" height="200" /><p id="caption-attachment-299592" class="wp-caption-text">Gambian President, Adama Barrow. Image: Getty Images</p></div>
<p>After nearly four decades in power Angola’s Jose Eduardo Dos Santos did not seek reelection. But his ruling Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) retained power after winning the August presidential election. Dos Santos was succeeded by Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenço, his former Minister of Defense.A nuisance to his Senegalese neighbour and an embarrassment to his peers in the subregional body, he was eventually pushed out by the Economic Community of West African States, ending his 22-year rule. He has since been in exile in Equatorial Guinea.</p>
<p>Zimbabwe provided the finale to an eventful year when, in a battle for succession, Robert Mugabe was forced out by a faction of his ZANU-PF with the help the Zimbabwean Defense Forces. Emmerson Mnangagwa, his long-time ally, and vice-president, took over the country. Mnangagwa has announced that elections this year will be ‘free and fair’. He is expected to retain power and his ZANU-PF to keep control of the national assembly.</p>
<h2>Different fortunes</h2>
<p>Rwanda, Kenya and Liberia all presented tales of different presidential fortunes.</p>
<p>After the December 2015 constitutional amendment allowing Paul Kagame to run for a third term and potentially remain in power until 2034, he was, without a surprise, reelected in august 2017 with almost 99 % of the votes. Kagame, touted by many as the providential leader who has stabilised and redressed a country emerging from genocide, is also criticised for muzzling all forms of opposition and restricting civil liberties.</p>
<p>In Kenya, Chris Msando, head of information, communication and technology for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, was tortured and murdered a week before the presidential election. Following the august 8th polls, the opposition coalition known as NASA and led by Raila Ondinga, contested the reelection of incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta. Despite international observers (including the African Union) finding no major issues with the polls, the Kenyan Supreme Court annulled the results and called for a new election in October.</p>
<div id="attachment_292572" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-292572" class="wp-image-292572 size-medium" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Uhuru-Kenyatta_New_Flickr-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" /><p id="caption-attachment-292572" class="wp-caption-text">Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta.</p></div>
<p>Kenya has since sunk into a political and institutional crisis, aggravated by the recent inauguration of Odinga as the ‘peoples president’.Uhuru Kenyatta was eventually reelected president in October, after NASA’s refusal to take part in the election without addressing the key issues raised about the electoral commission.</p>
<p>Africa’s presidential electoral year ended in Liberia, on 28 December, with the passing of the baton between the ruling-party’s candidate Joseph Nyumah Bokai and Georges Oppong Weah. The former soccer star turned politician and senator, won in the second round with more than 60% of the votes taking over from Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s 12 year rule. He will have to redress the resource-rich but yet poor nation, in the wake of a debilitating Ebola outbreak.</p>
<h2>Lessons to take into 2018</h2>
<p>In the three emblematic cases of ‘handover’ – Angola, Zimbabwe and The Gambia – it’s difficult to say whether the democratic deficit is less serious today. But if ZANU-PF and the MPLA don’t renew themselves, systems that don’t have a stellar record in the rule of law and good governance departments could easily be perpetuated.</p>
<p>Gambians, for their part, can hope that the coming to power of a novice in politics will bring them a better life.</p>
<p>Ensuring democratic and good governance, free and fair elections, and peaceful transitions to power are no longer optional.</p>
<p>Stability in several countries will indubitably be jeopardised in 2018 if some governments do not deliver free and fair elections. Similarly, undertaking constitutional changes that contradict the rule of law, the separation of powers and don’t uphold political agreements, will further entrench instability. From this point of view, Africa’s regional organisations will have to manage the post-electoral crises from previous years – including Kenya – and try and prevent those on the horizon this year.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91600/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />The African Union must, more than ever, have all its member states sing to the tune of democracy. This can be facilitated by a reform of the organisation. But this, in turn, hinges on the political will of those who will have to endorse the necessary changes. Unfortunately, they remain, for the moment, the guardians of the old order.</p>
<p><em>This article was originally published on The Conversation. </em></p>


Africa waves some leaders goodbye: but is the democratic deficit any narrower?

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<p>Travelling or doing business in Angola is no longer a hassle to South African nationals wishing to expand their views and business opportunities in the continent.</p>


What a visa-free travel to Angola means for business development

<p>Angola’s central bank said on Monday it was the sole responsibility of commercial banks to sell foreign currency to the public and that it would sell forex only to large importers of essential goods.</p>
<div id="attachment_42263" style="width: 2010px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-42263" class="wp-image-42263 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/angola-wikipedia.png" alt="" width="2000" height="1333" /><p id="caption-attachment-42263" class="wp-caption-text">Photo: Wikipedia</p></div>
<p class="">The southern African nation in January abandoned the kwanza’s peg to the U.S. dollar, devaluing it by about 10 percent, in a bid to attract capital to the oil-exporting country, which was hit hard by a slide in global crude prices.</p>
<p class="">“National Bank of Angola (BNA) has implemented a new exchange rate framework which, among other measures, gives commercial banks the responsibility of selling foreign currency to citizens and companies that need it,” the bank said in a statement.</p>
<p class="">“Requests for the purchase of foreign currency must be submitted only to commercial banks, with the exception of large importers of medicines and/or foodstuffs,” the bank said.</p>
<p class="">Since the peg was abandoned, the kwanza has lost over 20 percent of its value to the dollar, while persistent shortages of foreign tender over the past half-decade have seen a currency black market flourish.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw">Reporting by Herculao Curoado, writing by Mfuneko Toyana, editing by Larry King</p>
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Angola’s central bank says only commercial banks can sell forex to public

<p><em>Chris Saunders, University of Cape Town</em></p>
<p>While each country in Southern Africa has its own politics, recent developments involving presidents provide interesting contrasts across the region. Which presidents gain and lose power in 2018 – and how they do so – will have significance for the region as a whole, not least in helping determine its continued stability.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-292303 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Emmerson-Mnangagwa_Zim_Swearing-In_GettyImages-RZ.png" alt="" width="850" height="566" /></p>
<p>As 2018 begins, Joseph Kabila is clinging to the presidency of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), claiming that there is insufficient funding to hold an election, amid growing protests against him in Kinshasa and elsewhere. It remains to be seen if he will fulfil the undertaking he has made that elections will be held in December this year.</p>
<p>Other countries in the region start 2018 on a much more promising footing. In Botswana, President Ian Khama, approaching the end of his two presidential terms, is expected to step down in an orderly succession in April and will be suceeded by the vice-president.</p>
<p>In both Zimbabwe and Angola autocratic presidents who had been in power for almost four decades lost power in 2017 in very different ways.</p>
<h2>Military intervention in Zimbabwe</h2>
<p>In the case of Zimbabwe the country’s army intervened in November 2017 to force Robert Mugabe to give up power. This came after he had, under the influence of his wife Grace, sacked Emmerson Mnangagwa as vice-president. The Southern African Development Community did not need to intervene, and even the mediation mission it planned wasn’t required.</p>
<p>Instead, the Zimbabwe military acted, with the ruling party, Zanu-PF, to replace Mugabe with Mnangagwa. It did so peacefully, denying during the entire process that a coup was underway. The 93-year-old Mugabe, in office since 1980, initially refused to step down, but was finally removed both as president of the country and of the ruling party.</p>
<p>The country will go to the polls in mid-2018, and Mnangagwa, who was confirmed in December 2017 as Zanu-PF’s presidential candidate, has said that the election will be credible, free and fair, but he has yet to confirm that he will allow international and other observers.</p>
<p>With the military more obviously involved in government than anywhere else in the region, Zimbabwe’s opposition parties divided, and with Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance seriously ill, there is little likelihood that Zanu-PF or Mnangagwa will lose power.</p>
<h2>Angola</h2>
<p>In Angola José Eduardo dos Santos, suffering from ill-health, agreed in early 2017 to step down as president of the country. He nominated a man he thought would be a trusted successor, hoping to continue to wield influence as president of the ruling MPLA.</p>
<p>After elections for the National Assembly in August, João Lourenço duly succeeded Dos Santos as president. To widespread surprise, he began sacking the heads of some of the country’s key institutions. These included Dos Santos’s daughter, Isabel dos Santos, who was CEO of the state oil company Sonangol.</p>
<figure class="align-center "><figcaption>
<div id="attachment_290966" style="width: 860px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-290966" class="wp-image-290966 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Angola_Joao-Lourenço_Dos-Santos_GettyImages.png" alt="" width="850" height="566" /><p id="caption-attachment-290966" class="wp-caption-text">Former Angolan President, José Eduardo dos Santos and new President João Lourenço. Image: Getty Images</p></div>
</figcaption></figure>
<p>And in early 2018 her brother José Filomeno dos Santos, was removed as head of Angola’s sovereign wealth fund. Their father’s influence was rapidly slipping away.</p>
<p>In Angola, as in Zimbabwe, a change of leader to one with a more reformist approach probably means that the ruling party has consolidated itself in power.</p>
<h2>South Africa</h2>
<p>In South Africa in December 2017 the leadership of the governing African National Congress (ANC) passed from Jacob Zuma to Cyril Ramaphosa, who thus became heir apparent to the presidency of the country. While there is no two-term limit for ANC presidents, Zuma had brought the ANC into discredit and Ramaphosa, despite having worked closely with Zuma as deputy president, was seen as the one who would curtail the corruption and “state capture”.</p>
<p>For now, Zuma remains president of the country until general elections due to be held by June 2019. The country waits to see whether, how and when Ramaphosa can arrange to take over as president of the country as well as of the ruling party.</p>
<h2>A presidential challenge defeated</h2>
<p>In Namibia, Hage Geingob had to meet a challenge to his continuing as leader of Swapo, the governing party, in November last year. He was, however, confirmed in his position and will therefore be Swapo’s presidential candidate for the election scheduled to take place in November 2019.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-41104 alignright" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/jacob_zuma__wikipedia-300x185.jpg" alt="South Africa and France sign nuclear agreement" width="300" height="185" /></p>
<p>Geingob supporters now fill all the key posts in his government, enabling him to make policy as he wishes. This is very different from South Africa, where the new ANC leadership remains divided and where Ramaphosa, when he becomes president of the country, will find it difficult to adopt new policies.</p>
<h2>Malawi and Zambia</h2>
<p>Malawi must hold elections in 2019 and the contest for the presidency then has already begun. It is not known whether Joyce Banda, the former president and leader of one of the country’s leading political parties, will return from self-imposed exile abroad to stand again. In 2017 she was formally charged with having been involved in the massive “Cashgate’ corruption scandal” that was uncovered while she was president.</p>
<div id="attachment_41298" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-41298" class="wp-image-41298 size-medium" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/edgar_lungu_flickr-300x189.jpg" alt="Zambia elections body halts campaigning in capital over violence" width="300" height="189" /><p id="caption-attachment-41298" class="wp-caption-text">Zambian President, Edgar Lungu.</p></div>
<p>In 2017 Lungu became more authoritarian. Hakainde Hichilema, the leader of the main opposition United Party for National Development, was arrested on what were clearly trumped-up charges. These were only dropped in August after interventions by the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth and inside Zambia by the local Catholic Archbishop.In Zambia, by contrast, where the next election is not due until 2021, the question is how Edgar Lungu, who took over the presidency after narrowly winning the presidential election in August 2016, will try to consolidate his power.</p>
<p>Lungu wants to serve a third term as president, and the country’s Constitutional Court has been asked to rule on the matter.</p>
<h2>Regional perspective</h2>
<p>Too often developments in one country are seen in isolation from similar ones elsewhere. Given that South Africa is the most important country in the region, how the Ramaphosa-Zuma poser is resolved will be significant for the region. Elsewhere, how presidents gain and lose, and try to consolidate their power, will help shape the continued stability of the region.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89980/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />Will political tensions be managed internally, as in Zimbabwe in late 2017? Or will they require some kind of intervention by the Southern Africa Development Community, in the DRC and perhaps elsewhere, to prevent them from escalating? Throughout the region, contests for presidential power are likely to keep political passions on the boil.</p>
<p><em>This article was originally published </em>on<em> The Conversation. </em></p>


Stability in southern Africa hinges on how leaders gain and lose power

<p>Angolan state oil firm Sonangol has issued its first public tender to buy refined products to widen its import base, market sources who have seen the tender said, in a sign the country is committed to reforming its oil industry.</p>
<div id="attachment_42263" style="width: 2010px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-42263" class="wp-image-42263 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/angola-wikipedia.png" alt="" width="2000" height="1333" /><p id="caption-attachment-42263" class="wp-caption-text">Photo: Wikipedia</p></div>
<p>For years OPEC member Angola has largely relied on commodities trader Trafigura for fuel imports. The trader still supplies gasoil but major competitor Vitol recently edged in to supply the country with gasoline.</p>
<p>Heavily reliant on oil sales for government income, Angola was crushed by the 2014 oil price crash, which pushed its economy into recession and created foreign currency shortages that crippled business.</p>
<p>President Joao Lourenco has committed to economic reforms and ordered a review of the country’s oil industry after he took office last September, succeeding Jose Eduardo dos Santos who stepped down after 38 years in power.</p>
<p>Lourenco also sacked the former president’s daughter Isabel as head of Sonangol &#8211; an appointment made by her father in 2016 &#8211; after oil majors complained of payment backlogs and delayed project approvals.</p>
<p>The tender to buy refined products signals one step towards reform of the oil industry.</p>
<p>One of the sources said the tender would close on Jan. 31 and was looking for 1.2 million tonnes of gasoline, 2.1 million tonne of gasoil and 480,000 tonnes of marine fuel.</p>
<p>“The real market liberalisation is still to come as Sonangol remains the monopoly importer,” one of the sources said.</p>
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT">
<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw">Reporting By Dmitry Zhdannikov and Julia Payne; Editing by David Goodman and Susan Fenton</p>
</div>


Angola opens up fuel imports with first major tender: sources

<p>Angola’s central bank may begin the process of fully floating its kwanza currency in three months’ time, the bank’s governor Jose Massano said, according to daily O Pais on Monday.</p>
<div id="attachment_42263" style="width: 2010px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-42263" class="wp-image-42263 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/angola-wikipedia.png" alt="" width="2000" height="1333" /><p id="caption-attachment-42263" class="wp-caption-text">Photo: Wikipedia</p></div>
<p>This month the bank ditched a currency peg and moved to a partial float that allows the kwanza to trade freely within a range set, but not disclosed, by the bank.</p>
<p>The bank will evaluate the new regime after three months, “and for the central bank governor this path should lead to the adoption of a (fully) floating exchange rate,” the newspaper said. It did not quote Massano directly.</p>
<p>A central bank spokeswoman said the paper’s information was correct.</p>
<p>Since the peg was abandoned, the kwanza has lost over 20 percent of its value to the dollar.</p>
<p>Massano also said that were the current rate at which the bank sells dollars maintained, Angola’s international reserves would halve by the end of the year, O Pais reported.</p>
<p>In 2017 the country’s international reserves fell over 30 percent to about $14 billion.</p>
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT">
<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw">Reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer; editing by John Stonestreet</p>
</div>


Angola central bank governor eyes move towards kwanza float

<p>Russia’s VTB is in talks with Angola on changing the terms of, and extending, a $1.5 billion loan, the bank’s Chief Executive Andrey Kostin told Reuters in an interview.</p>
<div id="attachment_42263" style="width: 2010px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-42263" class="wp-image-42263 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/angola-wikipedia.png" alt="" width="2000" height="1333" /><p id="caption-attachment-42263" class="wp-caption-text">Photo: Wikipedia</p></div>
<p>“This topic is interesting for us, we have a fairly positive view on Angola and are now in talks to prolong the loan on new terms to 10 years. Otherwise, Angola would have had to redeem the loan within the next 1.5 years,” Kostin said.</p>
<p>He added that VTB would be interested in helping Angola to arrange a new sovereign bond issue worth “a couple of billion dollars.”</p>
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT">
<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw">Reporting by Katya Golubkova and Dmitry Antonov; Editing by Christian Lowe</p>
</div>


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Angola

This is what Angola is telling investors to get them to invest in its Eurobonds

In search of an ‘economic miracle’ Angola taps into the IMF

Mauritius freezes funds linked to Angola’s sovereign wealth fund

Angola charges son of ex-president dos Santos with fraud

Britain says $500mln from alleged central bank fraud can be returned to Angola

Angola’s ruling party chief Dos Santos wants new MPLA leader chosen in Dec or April 2019

Angola’s economic growth seen rising to 2.25% this year: IMF

Isabel dos Santos’ former diamond rights offered to Angola

Africa has world’s second-fastest banking growth and profitability: McKinsey

Angola oil production declines slightly in 2017, profits rise

Africa waves some leaders goodbye: but is the democratic deficit any narrower?

What a visa-free travel to Angola means for business development

Angola’s central bank says only commercial banks can sell forex to public

Stability in southern Africa hinges on how leaders gain and lose power

Angola opens up fuel imports with first major tender: sources

Angola central bank governor eyes move towards kwanza float

Russia’s VTB in talks to prolong Angola’s $1.5BN loan to 10 years

News Tips

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