The economist of the African Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Thibault Lemaire, told Lusa Sunday that Angola needs to combine reforms that ensure the maintenance of fiscal discipline with structural reforms and diversification plans.
“Looking forward, a combination of reforms is needed to meet fiscal and debt targets, and ensure sustainability and stability. This includes maintaining fiscal discipline as well as continuing to implement structural fiscal reforms and diversification plans,” Lemaire said.
Speaking to media following the release of the IMF report on sub-Saharan Africa, as part of the Fund’s Spring Meetings, this economist from the African department said that “Angola has been resilient to external shocks and the political cycle” and added that the recovery of economic growth last year was based on the non-oil sector.
“The recovery in 2022 was driven by the overall strong performance of the non-oil sector and the recovery of the oil sector, which rebounded but grew at a slower pace than expected due to temporary maintenance operations in the fourth quarter,” according to Thibault Lemaire.
For the IMF, Angola’s average growth in the coming years will not exceed 4%, and should accelerate from 2.8% in 2022 to 3.5% this year and 3.7% in 2024, the year in which inflation should finally drop to single digits.
“In February, inflation reached the lowest level in seven years, driven by the continued slowdown in the rise of food products and favorable base effects,” the economist said, predicting that inflation “will continue to slow and reach the National Bank of Angola’s single-digit target by the end of 2024.”
After the extended financing program, which ended in December 2021, the IMF “remains in close contact since the conclusion of the extended financing program in December 2021, including technical assistance on fiscal reforms and monetary policy operations,” and there is still, Thibault Lemaire concludes, a “post-financing program review mission scheduled for May 2023.