Africa-Press – Angola. The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, will begin a three-day working visit to Angola on the 19th of November to strengthen cooperation between the Angolan government and this multilateral institution from Bretton Woods.
The agenda includes meetings with the Executive, business leaders, and the student community to jointly analyze structural reforms, the investment climate, and policies that support more robust growth.
Under the IMF’s Extended Financing Facility, implemented in Angola from 2018 to 2021, this institution granted the country a loan of approximately US$4.4 billion, including technical assistance in the application of this credit.
Kristalina Georgieva’s visit to the Angolan capital (Luanda) precedes the European Union – African Union Summit, scheduled for November 24 and 25 in Angola, and the 20th summit of Heads of State and Government of the G20, a group formed by the 20 largest economies in the world, taking place from the 23rd to the 25th of this month in Johannesburg, South Africa.
A month ago, during the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which took place from October 13 to 18 in Washington (USA), the IMF Managing Director pointed to the Poverty Alleviation and Growth Fund (PGRT) as the main instrument for granting concessional loans to member countries.
At the time, the manager assured that the institution will provide support to all member countries, focusing on managing the macroeconomic implications.
She added that the IMF’s lending activity, anchored in economic justice and its conditionality, currently covers programs with 43 member countries, for which $37 billion has been approved since October, and almost $5 billion has been allocated to the nine low-income countries.
Kristalina Georgieva acknowledged that the international trade system, which has benefited many people, is being profoundly shaken for several reasons, because the rules “were not equitable and level for everyone”, leaving many people behind who have lost their jobs.
She also recalled that there has been the application of assertive non-tariff measures, such as import licenses, import controls, and import duties, capturing only a part of the scenario and industrial policies, in addition to markets and exchange rates.
To date, she pointed out, 188 of the 191 member countries have managed to avoid these retaliatory actions in the form of tariffs.
She estimated that 72% of international trade is still based on the most-favored-society principle, adding that countries use their lowest bilateral rate and apply it to all trade processes.
Angola has been a member of the International Monetary Fund since 1989 and, in recent years, has been consolidating its relationship with this institution through specific programs aimed at improving the management and consolidation of national accounts, improving investment mechanisms, and promoting the country’s economic and social growth.
Alongside the World Bank Group (WBG), another multilateral Bretton Woods institution, the IMF has the mission of ensuring the stability of the global financial system, promoting monetary cooperation, sustainable economic growth, and poverty reduction.
To this end, the International Monetary Fund supervises the economies of member countries, grants loans to nations in crisis, and offers technical guidance and advice on economic and financial policies.
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