Angolan Central Bank Says It Reduced Its Main Lending Rate to Banks to 25%
Angola, Africa’s second-biggest oil producer, cut its benchmark rediscount rate by five percentage points, a month after the appointment of a new governor of the southern African nation’s central bank.
The rate that the central bank charges commercial lenders to borrow money was lowered to 25 percent from 30 percent, the Luanda-based National Bank of Angola said on its website today. It didn’t provide reasons for the cut, which reverses a similar increase in September 2009.
Last month, Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos appointed Jose de Lima Massano as governor of the central bank, replacing Abraao Gourgel, who was named head of a newly created economy ministry. Laura Maria Alcantara Monteiro was also fired as deputy central bank governor last month.
Inflation in Angola jumped to 15.7 percent in September after the government increased gasoline prices by 50 percent, according to the National Statistics Institute. The rate had remained between 13.5 percent and 14 percent for the past year before last month’s increase.
The kwanza traded at 92.503 per dollar on Nov. 8, compared with 92.505 on Nov. 5, according to the central bank.
To contact the reporter on this story: Candido Mendes in Luanda at cmendes6@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net.
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