Africa-Press – Angola. International banks in Washington, United States of America, expressed their intention to operate in the Angolan banking market.
The intention was expressed Tuesday by investors to the governor of the National Bank of Angola (BNA), José de Lima Massano, and to the ministers of Finance, Economy and Planning, Vera Daves de Sousa, and Mário Caetano João, respectively, who are participating at the spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which runs until April 16 of the current year.
According to a note from the Ministry of Finance, the BNA governor said that there is room for more international banks to operate in Angola, pointing to opportunities such as the economic diversification agenda that provides financial institutions in their relationship with the private sector, as well as the fact that financial inclusion is only around 50% of the population.
Speaking in the question and answer session, during the round table on Angola’s Economic Growth Potential, organized by the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, José de Lima Massano provided a framework on the measures taken in recent times, which is to allow the stability of the financial system, control of inflation, the operating system and the management of the exchange rate.
On the exchange rate, he highlighted the Bloomberg platform, where banks, oil operators, diamond companies and insurance companies operate.
According to the governor of the Central Bank, the use of the platform made the system flexible, transparent and operable based on the exchange market conditions.
At the event, José de Lima Massano advanced the possibility of companies that make money transfers entering the Bloomberg platform.
José de Lima Massano defended the need for these companies to disperse their presence across the other provinces, thus avoiding concentration only in Luanda.
With regard to the principles of banking supervision, the BNA governor clarified that Angola adopted the rules of the European Central Bank, which has played the role of regulator and supervisor of the system, now supported by the independence determined by the 2021 constitutional revision, having highlighted the measures adopted to safeguard stability and avoid contagion and risks to the financial system.
Lima Massano also highlighted the work that has been done with Banco de Poupança e Crédito (BPC) and Banco Económico (BE) to control systemic risks.
At the same meeting, the Minister of Finance, Vera Daves, addressed the macro-fiscal framework, highlighting the measures adopted to control the public debt, the financing needs present in the General State Budget for 2023, as well as the perspectives launch of ESG bonds (bonds for environmental, social and governance purposes) on the international financial market.
On his turn, the Minister of Economy and Planning, Mário Caetano, highlighted the reforms of the political-institutional framework with the measures adopted, in the last five years, relative to the fight against corruption, as well as the ongoing reforms for the improvement of the business.
Mário Caetano also spoke about the pillars of the new National Development Plan (PDN), such as the commitment to human capital, infrastructure and economic diversification, areas in which the involvement of the local and foreign private sector is expected.
Companies from different sectors participated in the meeting.
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