Angola hopes to resume negotiations with the IMF in December

Angola is expecting the negotiations over the programme from the IMF to be concluded until December so that the government can start with the application of the fund at the beginning of the fiscal year already, the Angolan Finance Minister told the Portuguese news agency, Lusa.

This year, the annual IMF and World Bank meetings take place in Bali, Indonesia, until the 14th of October and Archer Mangueira underlined how this [negotiation] can always be a lengthy process, however badly one wants to make it fast, but is hopeful that the government will get the fund by the start of 2019.

“Negotiation processes always take their time, but we would love to start with the programme by the beginning of the tax year in Angola”, the finances executive stated.

“We have just wrapped up the first step of the memorandum of understanding and we can thus expect to have our hands full until December” he noted, underlining as well that the negotiation process is on a great track.

On the 5th of October, in Luanda, IMF’s mission chief for Angola had already rated the negotiations with that government as “fruitful”. He noted then that both parties saw eye to eye and had reached an agreement on “most parts of the measures”, although there were still “some minor issues to solve”.

Now in Bali, on the eve of IMF’s event, and being interviewed by Portuguese news agency Lusa, the Angolan Finances Minister has told reporters that the investment level and profit levels of the agreements with the IMF are based upon the country’s Macroeconomic Stability Programme. “We did not even have to get the IMF fund to shift the paradigm” he stated, alluding to the country’s high dependency to oil.

In the end, he said, “Angola, by adopting the macroeconomic stability programme, has defined a new model which prioritizes the allocation of resources for investment and infrastructure which can help boost production in the country, reduce dependency from other economies, and as well help to equilibrate the balance of payments deficit, as it creates alternative income in foreign currency which is not solely dependent in the oil industry.”

On the other hand, the Angolan politician also has noted that he created mechanisms to guarantee “fiscal consolidation”, mechanisms that, according to the politician, are focused on improving the tax collection.

By the end of September, the IMF had already expressed its viewpoint on the VAT tax’s entry into force in Angola, manifesting its agreement with the measure’s application for the second semester of 2019, as the organization considers this to be an important step for the consolidation of the economy.

As for the total value to be conceded by the IMF to Angola, Archer Mangueira has told Lusa that no value was agreed as of yet: “We are still in the phase of establishing goals, targets, combining policies, and certainly afterwards we will define the amount”.