LUANDA (Reuters) -Angola will roll over a $1 billion debt facility with JPMorgan that is close to maturity, a senior official at the finance ministry told Reuters on Tuesday.
The southern African nation will seek to lower the interest rate of the facility when it is rolled over, the official said without providing further detail.
The original rate was not disclosed but the finance ministry said in May it was just below 9%.
Angola and JPMorgan agreed to a $1 billion, one-year derivative contract known as a total return swap almost a year ago, backed by $1.9 billion in Angolan government dollar bonds.
The bank demanded $200 million in additional security in April after the value of the bonds put up as collateral weakened when the U.S. imposed steep tariffs on the country.
The bonds recovered and the government got the additional security back. The bond was quoted at 99.8 cents on the dollar on Tuesday, market participants said.
(Reporting by Miguel Gomes; Writing by Duncan Miriri;Editing by David Goodman and Cynthia Osterman)
