Shandong — The Minister of State for Economic Coordination, José Massano, clarified Sunday, in Shandong, that the debt relief agreement between Angola and the People's Republic of China does not mean a moratorium (delay or suspension of payment).
Speaking to the press, regarding the results of President João Lourenço's visit to China, the official said that, despite the agreements reached, the debt payment schedule remains unchanged.
According to José Massano, negotiations with the main creditor, the China Development Bank, resulted in an agreement to "restating the reimbursement mechanics".
Angola has a debt with the People's Republic of China set at around 17 billion US dollars, according to data presented this week by the Angolan Head of State, during official negotiations.
The Angolan President detailed that, of this amount, around 12 billion US dollars were contracted from the Chinese Development Bank (CDB) and EximBank, with oil collateral and reimbursement clauses that burden debt service.
According to José Massano, within the framework of the negotiations, China became more flexible and gave Angola the possibility to deliver a lower guarantee reserve.
'The calendar is not changed, but what will now happen is that our installments, part of which served to constitute a guarantee reserve, this reserve will become lower, allowing us to release, on average, per month, something around USD 150/200 million'.
He stressed that there was only a change in mechanics, particularly the constitution of reserves, guarantees for debt service, and therefore there was no moratorium.
'We managed to leave here with closed deals. We are not talking about moratoriums here. That's not what brought us. We have these deposits for future responsibilities', stressed the Minister of State.
The government official indicated that the agreements reached will bring two gains to Angola, that is, 'part of the deposits made will be returned to Angola', and onwards there will be 'a need for fewer idle resources to fulfill these services'.
He said that Angola should, from April onwards, start to feel this change, having highlighted that the initial calendar will be fulfilled from the point of view of maturity.
'It didn't care, nor did it extend its maturity. It will remain the same as we had initially. From April onwards, we will have greater availability on the treasury side, to meet the needs of importing goods and services that the country does not yet have internally, somewhere around 150 to 200 million dollars/month', he reiterated.
Therefore, he said, debt relief will allow not only greater flexibility in the execution of the General State Budget, but also the country's ability to supply the foreign exchange market with more resources necessary for imports of goods and services.
In another area, he said that the visit made it possible to make progress with financial institutions, in terms of mobilizing resources, as 'the lines were coming to an end'.
'We have agreements with disbursement deadlines, periods
for us to use resources, but some projects are at a stage that indicates that a longer period is needed for these disbursements', he explained.
José de Lima Massano said that, there too, there was an agreement and the periods were extended.
'It means that we can continue to execute the projects with this security of having the funds available to guarantee payment to contractors,' he assured.
Likewise, he indicated, the country managed to obtain guarantees of developments that will continue, and lines of credit for small and medium-sized companies, here also with the China Development Bank.
'Furthermore, we must highlight the great flexibility we found from Chinese financial institutions, which understood our context, the history of the relationship and the fact that we do not have situations of non-compliance. This allowed them to have greater confidence,' he commented.
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With these gains, José Massano said that there will be, on the institutional side, this flexibility, but also a greater interest in supporting the private sector, particularly small and medium-sized companies.
Regarding the business side, he stated that there were also very positive results, because there was a considerable number of Chinese companies (they are among the largest in the world) interested in investing in Angola.
These companies, he said, want to invest in various domains such as healthcare, agriculture, military industry and textile industry.
'We therefore have strong expectations of more direct Chinese investment in our economy, helping to face the great challenges that the country is facing', he said, stressing that 'it was a successful mission'.
According to the Minister of State for Economic Coordination, the main objectives that the Executive intended with the mission to China were achieved. FMA/VIC/DOJ
