Angolan Middle Class Drives Economic Growth, Eaglestone Says

Angola’s growing middle class will help expand the banking, retail and communications industries in Africa’s second-largest oil producer, according to Eaglestone Securities BV.

The economy will grow by 5 percent to 7 percent this year and next, led by an 8.3 percent increase in non-oil sectors, Tiago Dionisio, a Lisbon-based analyst at Eaglestone, wrote in a note published today. Oil’s contribution to gross domestic product fell to 46 percent from 56 percent in 2002, he said.