Africa-Press – Angola. The foreign exchange sector registered a favorable performance in the 2021 financial year, which was reflected in the reduction of goods and services in the domestic market.
According to the Banco Nacional de Angola financial stability report, at the beginning of 2021, the central bank started to publish only the average exchange rate, reflecting an increase in rates compared to previous periods.
At the end of the first quarter of 2021, the national currency began to appreciate against the dollar, which was, in average terms, the second largest appreciation of the Kwanza since September 2020.
After this period, the data add that, variations were observed in both directions, appreciation and depreciation, having ended the period with an appreciation of 1.393 percent.
Due to this trajectory, the reference exchange rate was situated at 1 Usd = Kz 554.981, having registered a slight appreciation of around 17.048 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.
On the other hand, the average interest rates on short-term public securities for maturities of 182 and 364 days had a decreasing behavior, while those with 91 days had an opposite behavior, standing at 19.38 percent 14.49 and 17.14 per year, respectively, with variations of 0.04 percentage points (PP), -6 pp and -3.86 pp, compared to the same period last year.
The report adds that in 2021, all risk indicators compared to the same period of the Cobweb of macroeconomic stability showed an improvement, with greater emphasis on indicators linked to the fiscal and external sector.
As to the stability of the vulnerability index of the fiscal sector, among the factors that contributed to its marked improvement, we highlight the significant reduction in public debt as a percentage of GDP in 2021, compared to the previous year and also an improvement in the budget balance (Income / Expenditure).
As for the external sector, the positive performance presented was due to the improvement in the coverage coefficient of imports (exports/imports) and the reduction of the differential between the exchange rate of the formal and informal market in average terms of the year.
The improvement in the performance of the real sector was fundamentally due to the significant improvement seen in the non-oil sector, despite the increase in year-on-year inflation in 2021.
Thus, in the monetary sector, there was a slight improvement in relation to the same period of the previous year, supported by the lower growth of Base Money and monetary aggregates.
Foreign Trade
In the external domain, there was an increase in the value of exports of goods by 67.15 percent in relation to the previous year. The value of imports of goods also recorded the same behavior, increasing by 30.7 percent when compared to 2021.
This behavior, according to the document, was reflected in an increase in the balance of the goods account by 30.70 percent compared to the same period last year.
The stock of Gross International Reserves corresponded to a coverage of 9.87 months of imports of goods and services in 2021 and 11.81 months in the same period of the previous year.
The decrease in the months covered by imports is explained by the increase in imports, which exceeded the increase in gross reserves. In 2021, the Central Bank continued to make efforts to allow the foreign exchange market to become increasingly efficient, having, within other measures, under Instruction No. negotiate the purchase and sale of foreign currency with commercial banks on Bloomberg’s FXGO platform.
As a result of negotiations between foreign exchange market participants, the national currency appreciated against the US dollar by 18.24 percent in 2021, after having depreciated 26.52 percent in the previous year, settling at 554,981 Kwanzas for one American dollar.
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