State spending to be raised

Although officials warned the economy was still being undermined by Angola’s protracted civil war, the national assembly late on Wednesday approved government plans to boost spending in 2000 by about 30 percent to 41.4 billion kwanzas (US $3 billion). The initial spending plans for the year were based on a projected oil price of US $15 a barrel, but international prices have peaked at double that figure. After Nigeria, Angola is sub-Saharan Africa’s largest oil producer with an output of about 780,000 barrels a day. US and French oil companies have invested billions of dollars in recent years in offshore exploration in Angolan waters and production is forecast to rise sharply in coming years. The forecast inflation rate for 2000 was 87 percent, but the government has revised it to 172 percent.