NAIROBI (Reuters) -The International Monetary Fund has cut Angola’s preliminary growth outlook for 2025 to 2.4% from an initial 3%, it said after an assessment mission to Luanda, citing lower prices of oil and tightening external financing conditions.
The Southern African oil exporter had to pay $200 million as extra security for a $1 billion loan from JPMorgan during the height of the selloff of risky assets last month, exposing the challenges faced by small, open African economies.
“This downward revision to the outlook also poses risks to fiscal performance,” the Fund said in a statement, adding that the findings will be discussed by its board in July.
The team, was however, reassured by the government’s determination to contain emerging risks, and to put in place mitigating measures, it said in a statement late on Tuesday.
The IMF officials were on a mission known as Post Financing Assessment, which is reserved for nations with outstanding credit above their quotas that do not have an IMF-supported programme or a staff-monitored programme.
The Fund sent a separate statement saying its head of Africa department, Abebe Aemro Selassie, had met with Angola’s President Joao Lourenco in Luanda, to discuss the situation.
“I emphasised the IMF’s readiness to continue supporting Angola’s efforts,” the statement quoted Abebe as saying after the meeting.
(Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
