Angola: Fitch forecasts economy to grow 2.2%
Fitch Solutions forecasts the Angolan economy will grow 2.2% in 2019, after having faced another recession of 0.8% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2018 for the third consecutive year.
Fitch said in a note sent to investors, that Lusa had access to, that it expected an increase in the production of oil and a subsequent increase of growth of GDP from 0.8% in 2018 to 2.2% this year.
According to the analysts, the recession that has been going on for three years and was triggered by a drop in oil prices and a drop in oil production.
Angola’s government announced on Tuesday it is to press ahead with a revision of this year’s state budget “in the first quarter” due to the “downward trend” in the price of crude oil, which remains below its projected average of $68 a barrel.
Currently, the price of a barrel of crude on the international market is around $60.
“We are about to enter the second month of the year, we are analysing the situation and we are already in a position to organise a budget that has a reference price for oil that is not the one we presented in December,” Manuel Nunes Júnior, minister of state for economic and social development said on Monday.
According to the minister, the plan to revise the 2019 budget, the current version of which estimates revenues and fixed expenditure of 11.3 billion kwanzas (€32.2 billion) for the year, is outlined in a resolution submitted to parliament when the proposal was discussed.
Oil accounts for about 80% of the revenues of the Angolan state.
