Luanda — Around 176 million US dollars is the amount that the Angolan Government has already paid to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), from 2021 to date, within the framework of the Expanded Financing Program (EFF) of this financial institution.
This amount is part of a package of around 4.4 billion dollars of Angola's debt with the IMF, which disbursed this loan as a result of the EFF agreement, concluded between the parties, in the period between 2018 and 2021, according to the representative of this institution in Angola, Victor Duarte Lledo.
In an interview with ANGOP, to be published in the coming days, the source said that the IMF expects Angola to pay, by 2028, around of 2.8 billion dollars, corresponding to 70 percent of the debt contracted.
"Angola's total debt is 3.20 billion in Special Drawing Rights (DES), a type of international currency which is used to pay debts to the IMF.
At the time (2018-2021), this value was the equivalent of around 4.4 thousand million dollars, of which the Angolan Government has already paid 134 million SDRs, corresponding to around 176 million dollars, since the end of the EFF, in 2021", he clarified.
In addition to financial assistance, Victor Lledo said that, currently, the International Monetary Fund and Angola maintain contacts permanent, with emphasis on advice on economic matters, a process known as "surveillance".
This advice, he highlighted, involves monitoring the country's economic and financial policies and identifying potential risks to economic growth and financial stability, as well as recommending economic policy adjustments appropriate to deal with the situation.
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He also said that the IMF is always open to discussing new financing with Angola, with a demand from the Government, as well as in case of need from the point of view of the balance of payments and other criteria established within of the Fund's various loan modalities.
'On our side, we have not identified the need for balance of payments financing in the short term that would justify a engagement with the Monetary Fund, but we are always open to discuss with the Government of Angola possible financing,' he added.
The Extended Financing Program was approved by the IMF's Board of Executive Directors on December 7, 2018, with a duration of three years.
Initially, that programme envisaged a financial package of SDRs equivalent to around USD 3.7 billion but, due to the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic, and at the request of the Angolan Government, the IMF approved an increase to access 72% of the quota as emergency funds, bringing the cumulative from 361% to 433% of the quota.
Specifically, the Fund granted Angola a corresponding disbursement of Special Drawing Rights equivalent to about of US$765 million, bringing the initial funding from US$3.7 billion to around US$4.4 billion.
This increase aimed to strengthen the country in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and mitigate its health effects, economic and social issues, as well as ensuring the implementation of the lost reforms that had been developed.
