Angola to stop guaranteeing loans with oil

Angola plans to stop using its oil production to obtain loans or credit from other countries, such as China, Brazil and Israel.

Speaking to the TASS news agency, the Angolan president, Joao Lourenco, said that this also concerned China, from which Angola had received many billions of dollars in loans for the reconstruction of the country, after the end of the civil war.

“The amount of oil we exported to China was equivalent to our debt to the country,” Lourenco told TASS.

Lourenco noted that China’s loan repayment system was outdated and that the Angolan government intended to change the way it repays its loans. “This change will happen not only with China but also with other countries with which we have the same way of repaying loans, such as Brazil and Israel,” he said.

Reportedly, China facilitated loans of more than $60 billion to Angola since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1983. Angolan Finance Minister Archer Mangueira said that in the Fall of 2018, Angola owed China US$23 billion.