POLITICS

The Parliament of Angola canceled a session that would have sworn in the head of a national elections commission whom opposition parties have rejected (Bloomberg).

Angola’s ruling MPLA party defended the re-appointment of the electoral commission chief and said opposition criticism was aimed at causing instability before an election this year (Reuters).

INTERNATIONAL

The strategic plan to set up the Cross-border Maiombe Forest Conservation Area, between Angola, Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo, requires US$40 million in investment, the project’s regional coordinator said (Macauhub).

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ECONOMY

The economy of Angola grew 3.4 percent last year with “prudent” policies, the International Monetary Fund said in a review of a $1.4 billion loan program (Bloomberg).

Angola is making “concerted efforts” to explain a $32bn gap in the government’s accounts, which apparently was caused by undocumented spending on infrastructure projects, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said (BusinessDay).

The Angolan government does not plan to take out another loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) when its US$1.4 billion loan under the terms of a stand by agreement is concluded this year, Angola’s Economy Minister said (Macauhub).

BUSINESS

Angola’s state-owned oil company Sonangol EP and some of the country’s banks are interested in stakes in Portuguese companies, Angolan Economy Minister Abraao Gourgel said (Bloomberg).

AGRI ETC

Angolan state company Mecanegro will be the target of a modernisation programme that will be funded by a US$40 million loan provided by the Export Import (ExIm) Bank of China, the chairman of the company said (Macauhub).

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MINING

Prospecting work to re-open the iron ore and manganese mines in Kassala-Kitungo, in Angola’s Kwanza Norte province, began last week. The project, which is part of public-private partnership involving state mining company Empresa Nacional de Ferro de Angola (Ferrangol) and Angola Exploration Mining Resources (AEMR), was launched in the first half of 2011 (Macauhub).

OIL & GAS

March loading cargoes of Angolan crude oil have nearly sold out, following relatively strong demand from Asia and a fall in the export volume for the month, traders said (Reuters).

Angola plans to reduce its daily crude oil exports in March by 12 percent to 1.61 million barrels a day, the lowest in nine months, according to a final loading program obtained by Bloomberg News.

Engen Petroleum Limited, the African downstream petroleum products refiner and marketer, has acquired the assets of Chevron in seven countries in sub-Sahara Africa, namely Nigeria and Angola. “We have completed the integration process, now the sky is the limit as we seek to become the champion in Africa,” Henry Akwaboah, managing director of Engen, Ghana, stated at an award ceremony in Accra (Businessdayonline) .

TELECOMS

Vodacom Group Ltd. plans to pull out of the Democratic Republic of Congo by selling its 51 percent stake in a local mobile-phone business to MTN Group Ltd. or Unitel SA of Angola (Businessweek).

TOURISM

Angola is expected to register until 2020 a movement of four million tourists, the minister of Hotel and Tourism, Pedro Mutindi, said in Luanda  (ANGOP).