Angola: World Bank provides €1.3 billion to support state budget

The World Bank is to provide $1.5 billion (€1.3 billion) to Angola over the next three years to support the general state budget, the country’s finance minister announced on Wednesday.

The money will be provided in three equal tranches, the first arriving this year, the minister, Ascher Mangueira, explained to the journalists, at the end of a meeting with the World Bank vice president for Africa Hafez Ghanem and Angola’s president João Lourenço.

“There is a firm decision to support the treasury through $500 million in funding in 2019, which will total $1.5 billion over the next three years”, he said.

Questioned about the other $500 million funding the World Bank has previously announced for the water and welfare sectors, the minister highlighted “Angola has been a member of the financial institution for many years and has built a valuable partnership”.

During a three-day visit starting on Wednesday, Ghanem will be checking the performance of all the projects funded by the World Bank Group.

This will be his first visit to Angola since he was appointed to the position in July 2018.

Hafez Ghanem will be working with the government’s economic team to evaluate the Macroeconomic Stability Programme.

He will also visit Huambo province to assess new opportunities and challenges in attracting investment.