World Bank praises government

The Angolan government’s recent decision to scrap the dual currency exchange rate system has not had a major impact on the lives of ordinary people, analysts in Luanda said. “Although the move might stabilise the economy as there is now uniformity in the currency rates as opposed to official and market rates that used to apply, prices of commodities and goods still remain as expensive as they have always been for a very long time,” one source told IRIN on Wednesday. Over the past decade the government has been forced to switch from the original Kwanza to the “new kwanza” and lately to the “adjusted kwanza” in an effort to prop up the currency that has been battered by 24 years of civil war. Meanwhile, the government’s move to abolish the dual currency rates has met with approval from international finance institutions. “There are indications that this move will attract finance institutions to make commitments to the Angolan economy,” one analyst said. Last week the World Bank announced that Angola had stabilised the servicing of its debt to the bank. Barbara Kafka, the Bank’s director for Angola, was quoted on Angolan TV as saying she was pleased with the economic reforms introduced by the government, which, she said, would enable the Bank to make new investments in the country. “I have been informed that the government has introduced the liberalisation of the foreign exchange rate and the interest rates,” Kafka said. She added that she had discussed with the government the need to reduce the fiscal deficit, increase spending on education and health, as well as the need to reduce government’s bloated bureaucracy. The World Bank is currently funding 10 projects in Angola amounting to US $250 million and has put on hold its earlier decision to close its Luanda offices.