IMF Approves Disbursement of $248.15m Credit Facility for Angola

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) board had has approved and disbursed the sum of $248.15 million for the first review of the Angola’s support programme, said the world financial body in a statement released on Wednesday.

According to the statement, this new financing is part of the amount granted to Angola under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) which totals US$1.24 billion.

The statement noted that the Angolan authorities have shown a strong commitment to implement the Fund’s support programme but added that exogenous factors, such as oil price volatility, are hindering reform efforts.

The ECF was approved on 7 December 2018 to run for three years, providing access to total funding of US$3.7 billion and technical assistance to support the Macroeconomic Stabilisation Programme and the 2018-2022 National Development Plan.

“The Angolan authorities have demonstrated strong commitment to policies under the Fund-supported program,” the IMF’s first deputy managing director and acting chair, David Lipton, noted in a statement.

“However, a weakened external environment, notably the heightened volatility in the international price of crude oil, is posing challenges to their reform efforts.

“The authorities responded in a decisive way (to these factors) with the presentation of a more conservative State Budget for 2019,” it said.

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