Sonangol and TAAG count toward Angola’s public debt

According to Presidential Decree “254/22” of October 24, only these two public companies, Sonangol-EP, the state-owned oil company, and TAAG-EP, Angola’s airline, were chosen because they are independent companies with the capacity to raise internal and external financing.

“Although there is recognition that these companies are autonomous, the imperative of including their debts lies in the fact of guaranteeing the alignment between the indebtedness actions of these companies and those of the central government, to comply with the terms defined in Law nº 11/3, of September 3 – the Base Law for the Public Business Sector,” the document stresses.

In the document, external debt is considered all debt whose creditor is a foreign entity, and internal debt represents the liabilities contracted with domestic market institutions.

The Public Debt Management Unit may revise this strategy annually should circumstances warrant; if macroeconomic assumptions undergo substantial changes, “the strategy may be refined to align with the revised objectives.

The main objective of the Public Debt strategy is to meet borrowing needs while maintaining a balance between reducing borrowing costs and keeping risks at sustainable levels.

The balance of the past triennium (2019-2022) is positive, namely the discontinuation of securities indexed to the exchange rate, the standardization of special issues to market securities, the reduction of short-term stock, and the discontinuation of contracting to finance with oil guarantees, factors that “ground the definition of the strategy for 2022-2024 in the consolidation of the guidelines previously outlined.

With information from Lusa