Angola “owes” around 39 billion kwanzas abroad.

Angola's external debt reached 39.33 billion kwanzas, approximately (44.10 billion euros), which represents an increase of 63% essentially justified by the depreciation of the kwanza against the dollar.

According to the annual report of the National Bank of Angola (BNA), external public debt includes financing from multilateral agencies, foreign governments and bilateral agencies, commercial banks and other financial institutions, as well as private suppliers.

The stock of Angolan public debt expressed in dollars increased by around 11.46% in 2023, reaching a maximum of US$80.61 billion, which represents more than 88% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The increase in debt volume, after two consecutive years of decline, essentially reflects unfavorable exchange rate developments.

In this direction, Angolan public debt comprises debt service with banks, local and international multilateral and bilateral financial institutions.

Therefore, the value of government debt stood at 53.08 billion kwanzas 59.53 billion euros, corresponding to 84% of GDP, an increase of 56%, resulting from the behavior of the external and internal components.

The BNA states in the report that the internal debt registered a value of 13.75 billion kwanzas, around 15.41 billion euros, 37.5% above the previous year, due to the overlapping of issuance, compared to amortizations, as well as well as the exchange rate appreciation of securities indexed and expressed in foreign currency.

The debt of public companies recorded a stock of 2.55 billion kwanzas (2.8 billion euros) compared to 2.30 billion kwanzas in the previous year (2.6 billion euros), of which 95, 13% are from the state oil company Sonangol.

This increase mainly reflects the depreciation of the kwanza of around 39.23% against the US dollar.