World Bank director visits

Darius Mans, the World Bank director for Angola, Malawi and Mozambique, arrived in Luanda on Monday on a week’s visit where he will meet with the ministers of planning, public administration, employment and social welfare. The visit, said news reports, was aimed at assessing projects financed by the World Bank. One of the projects funded by the World Bank is a US $33 million social aid fund which is in its second phase. The bank is also funding the modernisation of Angola’s financial institutions. Mans took over as country director for Angola on 1 July, and this is his first visit to the war-torn country. “I have simply come to listen and learn,” said Mans. The World Bank, which pulled out of Angola two years ago when the civil war restarted, has promised more funding to Angola, but has attached conditions such as transparency, improving the security situation, structural reforms to the battered economy and balancing its US $13 billion foreign debt.