Downgrade: Standard and Poor’s cuts Angola’s rating

PARIS: Standard and Poor’s cut Angola’s credit rating one notch to B on Friday due to the impact of low crude prices on the oil-exporting African nation, as well as the slump in its currency. The credit ratings agency said the prospect of low oil prices continuing for the next couple of years would impair “Angola’s external flows and stocks, government debt stocks, and the pace of economic growth given the country’s dependence on the oil sector.” Standard and Poor’s said oil revenue accounts for two-thirds of the Angolan government’s revenue and 90% of exports. As foreign currency earnings from oil have fallen, so has the national currency, the kwanza, losing more than 30% of its value against the dollars over the past year. Government debt has swelled from less than 5% of annual economic output three years ago and is expected to hit 50% this year.  

Published in The Express Tribune, February 14^th, 2016.

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