THE RISE OF THE PACS

Meet three booming Portuguese-speaking African Countries.

The rise of the what? Another acronym, you say? Well, why not… In Portuguese the countries are called PALOPs, the Paises Africanos de Lingua Oficial Portuguesa (or African Countries with Portuguese as Official Language). So we call them PACs. Three PACs have become booming economies and nobody is stopping them: Cape Verde, Angola and Mozambique. Check it out.

NEWS

Angola set up an emergency plan for the southern province of Cunene, where an estimated 300,000 people are at risk of malnutrition because of a two-year-long drought (Reuters).

ECONOMY

Angola plans to use loan guarantees and investment to create thousands of companies and jobs, Minister of the Economy Abrahao Gourgel said. Part of the $435 million plan called Angola Invests is to start or help 9,000 companies and generate 300,000 jobs to cut unemployment from a government-estimated 20 percent (Bloomberg).

Angola also plans to sell about 33 state-owned companies over the next five years to increase efficiency and cut costs, Economy Minister Abrahao Gourgel said. The formerly Marxist country has about 90 government-run businesses, from newspapers to diamond producers. Companies on the block are mostly small- and medium-sized, including Bricomil SARL, a construction company owned by the state through Sonangol, two government banks and the national insurer, Ensa Seguros de Angola SA (Bloomberg).

Angola also plans to increase customs tariffs to protect local business while eliminating duties on supplies for industry. The new code, which may be implemented in the next six months, will raise import taxes on items such as beer, water, soft drinks, agricultural products and livestock to 50 percent from as high as 30 percent, Bloomberg reported.

Angola’s consumer inflation slowed to 9 percent year-on-year in April from 9.11 percent in March, the National Statistics Institute (INE) said.

China and Portugal are becoming increasingly important for trade relations with Angola, whilst the United States and France are losing ground in the country’s balance of trade, according to Angolan figures cited by Portuguese bank BPI, Macauhub reported.

BEST ANGOLA MUSIC & BOOKS

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BANKING & FINANCE

Nigeria’s UBA, United Bank of Africa, which has operations in 22 countries, plans to increase income from units outside Nigeria to 40 percent in the next two to three years from 20 percent last year. The lender may open in Angola this year if regulators there approve, Bloomberg reported.

Standard Chartered Plc, the U.K. lender, has applied for a banking license in Angola and may do the same in Mozambique as it seeks to increase revenue from Africa. Standard Chartered already has a representative office in Angola and has set up a joint venture with a state-owned insurance company, Bloomberg reported.

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OIL & GAS

Three Angolan crude cargoes for loading in June, out of 51 lots scheduled for export in that month, haven’t been sold, according to Bloomberg.

Angola’s hopes of becoming this year’s only major new liquefied natural gas supplier suffered another setback in April after fire occurred at its plant just hours before production was to begin. This could further delay the troubled project, which is seen as key to relieving a global shortage of the fuel and could help push global LNG prices back towards record highs, Reuters reported.

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BRAZIL WEEKLY

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THE RISE OF THE PACS

Meet three booming Portuguese-speaking African Countries. The rise of the what? Another acronym, you say? Well, why not… In Portuguese the countries are called PALOPs, the Paises Africanos de Lingua Oficial Portuguesa (or African Countries with Portuguese as Official Language). So we call them PACs. Three PACs have become booming economies and nobody is stopping them: Cape Verde, Angola and Mozambique. Check it out.

NEWS

The appointment of Armando Manuel as Angola’s finance minister boosts the legitimacy of the southern African nation’s $5 billion sovereign wealth fund, Markus Weimer of Control Risks Group said according to Bloomberg. Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos replaced Finance Minister Carlos Alberto Lopes yesterday in a cabinet shuffle and appointed Waldemar Pires Alexandre construction minister.

Angola plans to simplify taxation and more than double revenue from sources other than petroleum to curb the government’s reliance on crude. The target is to pass three tax codes this year that will cut fees and modernize laws, some which date from 1948, Gilberto Luther, director of the reform project, said in an interview on April 29 in Luanda, the capital. The changes will increase receipts from industries including manufacturing and retail to about 20 percent of gross domestic product by 2017 from 8 percent in 2011, he said. In Nigeria, Africa’s largest crude producer, non-oil tax was 6.3 percent of GDP in 2011 (Bloomberg).

General Electric (GE) plans to build locomotives for Angola and Mozambique in South Africa, a move that will see the company extending its existing relationship with Transnet Engineering (TE), BusinessDay reported.

ECONOMY

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Angola’s Long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) at ‘BB-’ with a Positive Outlook. Fitch has also affirmed the Country Ceiling at ‘BB-’ and the Short-term IDR at ‘B’.

The Angolan economy will continue to post robust growth over the next few years, with expected average annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7.1 percent in the 2013-2017 period, the secretary of State for the Economy said to the local press.

Angolan trade with China in the first quarter of 2013 rose 2.7 percent to US$8.85 billion, with Chinese exports rising 26.51 percent to US$858.4 million and imports from China increasing 0.21 percent to US$7.99 billion, the Angolan press reported.

BEST ANGOLA MUSIC & BOOKS

Be welcome to check out Atlantico Weekly’s music cd and book store in cooperation with Amazon.com! Browse the Atlantico Store for the latest and best Angolan music, like Waldemar Bastos, Bonga and many others…! Also use the Atlantico Store to find relevant maps, books on politics, economics and history as well as travel or tourist guides about Angola. You order straight with Amazon, one of the best online stores in the world. Enjoy!

BANKING & FINANCE

Angola has introduced tougher regulations for banks on ownership disclosure, auditing and risk management, responding to international calls for increased transparency and supervision in the oil-rich country’s booming financial sector. Under the wide-ranging new corporate governance code, banks will have to publish information about their shareholding structures, including details about who owns direct and indirect stakes. Rights groups have criticised opaqueness in a system in which large stakes are owned by secretive offshore companies. If an Angolan bank opts to have non-executive directors on its board, it must also appoint an executive board to handle day-to-day management in a transparent and responsible manner and one independent board member to oversee it (Reuters).

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OIL & GAS

US oil group Chevron plans to increase its investments in oil production in Angola over the next five years to US$1 billion. The investment would lead to production of 600,000 barrels of oil per day. The company expects to increase its production in 2015 when it will launch exploration at the Mafumeira Sul project, with capacity to produce 110,000 barrels of oil per day, Angolan press reported.

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THE RISE OF THE PACS

Meet three booming Portuguese-speaking African Countries. The rise of the what? Another acronym, you say? Well, why not… In Portuguese the countries are called PALOPs, the Paises Africanos de Lingua Oficial Portuguesa (or African Countries with Portuguese as Official Language). So we call them PACs. Three PACs have become booming economies and nobody is stopping them: Cape Verde, Angola and Mozambique. Check it out.

BUSINESS

Cement company Secil Lobito – Companhia de Cimento do Lobito plans to invest 18 billion kwanzas (US$187 million) in a new cement plant in Lobito, with capacity to produce 1.2 million tons of cement per year. The new plant will be built just 200 metres from the current Secil Lobito plant, local press reported.

BEST ANGOLA MUSIC & BOOKS

Be welcome to check out Atlantico Weekly’s music cd and book store in cooperation with Amazon.com! Browse the Atlantico Store for the latest and best Angolan music, like Waldemar Bastos, Bonga and many others…! Also use the Atlantico Store to find relevant maps, books on politics, economics and history as well as travel or tourist guides about Angola. You order straight with Amazon, one of the best online stores in the world. Enjoy!

AVIATION

The airport in the city of Namibe, in southern Angola, will undergo modernisation and expansion work, and the contract for the project was approved by the central government. Once the work is finished, Namibe airport will have capacity to handle 400 passengers at peak times, 200 in departures and the same at arrivals and will be able to receive latest generation aircraft, international press reported.

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of the Radisson Blu hotel for Luanda.

BANKING & FINANCE

The central bank of Angola kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a third month as inflation accelerated. The key lending rate was left at 10 percent. The bank lowered the rate by a quarter of a percentage point in January, only the second cut since it was introduced in October 2011 (Bloomberg).

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ATLANTICO WEEKLY RECOMMENDS

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OIL & GAS

Angola, Africa’s second-largest oil producer, will cut exports in June to 51 cargoes, one less than in a preliminary plan and the lowest in nine months, according to a final loading program obtained by Bloomberg News.

Sonangol plans this year to auction off 54 new oil blocks in the Kwanza, Congo and Namibe basins. The Angolan government, alongside putting up more blocks for tender, planned to see an increasing number of Angolan companies involved in oil exploration in the country, international press reported.

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OPINION

Our latest opinion article is a reaction to a recent piece in The Economist: Can Brazil Conquer Africa’s Booming Markets?

BRAZIL WEEKLY

The May 3rd Edition of Brazil Weekly is ready for you with: affirmative action in Brazil, Odebrecht goes on international investment spree, trade deficit deepening, agribusiness mega trends, automotive sales record, United buys more Embraers, Maracana reopens, and of course much more…

THE RISE OF THE PACS

Meet three booming Portuguese-speaking African Countries. The rise of the what? Another acronym, you say? Well, why not… In Portuguese the countries are called PALOPs, the Paises Africanos de Lingua Oficial Portuguesa (or African Countries with Portuguese as Official Language). So we call them PACs. Three PACs have become booming economies and nobody is stopping them: Cape Verde, Angola and Mozambique. Check it out.

NEWS

The United Nations’ top human rights official urged Angola’s government on Wednesday to reduce the huge disparities between rich and poor that have developed in the oil-rich country despite considerable progress since the end of a 27-year civil war in 2002, Reuters reported.

ECONOMY

A total of 4,500 kilometres of roads are being repaired under the terms of the
programme for road conservation and maintenance of the Angolan National Roads
Institute (INEA), local press reported.

BEST ANGOLA MUSIC & BOOKS

Be welcome to check out Atlantico Weekly’s music cd and book store in cooperation with Amazon.com! Browse the Atlantico Store for the latest and best Angolan music, like Waldemar Bastos, Bonga and many others…! Also use the Atlantico Store to find relevant maps, books on politics, economics and history as well as travel or tourist guides about Angola. You order straight with Amazon, one of the best online stores in the world. Enjoy!

BANKING & FINANCE

Banco Angolano de Investimentos SA, Angola’s largest bank by assets, is forecasting 10 percent revenue growth this year as Africa’s second-biggest oil and gas- producing nation expands. The company wants a slice of the $1 billion that a new petroleum-industry banking law may add to the economy this year, Bloomberg reported. It also plans to add 15 branches for a total of 116 in the country, he said. The bank’s profits fell 15 percent to $180 million in 2012, while revenue rose 10 percent to $581 million.

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OIL & GAS

Sonangol, Angola’s state oil company, and Cohydro of neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo will develop a shared oil block off the coast of the two countries. The nations each control half of the block, which is in a so-called zone of common interest that overlaps with part of Angola’s block 14 in the Atlantic Ocean (Bloomberg).

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OPINION

Our latest opinion article is a reaction to a recent piece in The Economist: Can Brazil Conquer Africa’s Booming Markets?

BRAZIL WEEKLY

Be very welcome to also visit our sister publication, Brazil Weekly, with news about developments in Brazil. Check out for instance our City Briefs about the country’s most important economic centers, with lots of relevant information for business travellers…enjoy!

THE RISE OF THE PACS

Meet three booming Portuguese-speaking African Countries. The rise of the what? Another acronym, you say? Well, why not… In Portuguese the countries are called PALOPs, the Paises Africanos de Lingua Oficial Portuguesa (or African Countries with Portuguese as Official Language). So we call them PACs. Three PACs have become booming economies and nobody is stopping them: Cape Verde, Angola and Mozambique. Check it out.

ECONOMY

Sub-Saharan Africa economic growth may expand 6.1 percent this year, as investment in the continent’s commodities grow, The World Bank said. Angola may have positive net exports due to diversification, the World Bank said as well according to Bloomberg.

Angola expects its stock exchange to have a market value of 10 percent of gross domestic product within 18 months of its startup, making it at least the continent’s sixth biggest. The capitalization of the exchange, which is set to start in 2015, would be a minimum of $11 billion based on last year’s output of $114 billion, Archer Mangueira, president of the Capital Markets Commission, said in an interview on April 10 in Luanda, the capital. South Africa’s bourse is the continent’s largest at $842 billion, more than double its GDP (Bloomberg).

Angola said it missed its own deadline to publish an investment policy for a planned $5 billion sovereign wealth fund due to a legal challenge, slowing efforts to diversify its oil-dependent economy (Reuters).

BUSINESS

Sonangol plans to re-launch Lobinave, a company specialised in building medium-sized ships as well as ship maintenance and repair in Lobito, local press reported.

BEST ANGOLA MUSIC & BOOKS

Be welcome to check out Atlantico Weekly’s music cd and book store in cooperation with Amazon.com! Browse the Atlantico Store for the latest and best Angolan music, like Waldemar Bastos, Bonga and many others…! Also use the Atlantico Store to find relevant maps, books on politics, economics and history as well as travel or tourist guides about Angola. You order straight with Amazon, one of the best online stores in the world. Enjoy!

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of the future World Trade Center, to be built in Luanda.

BANKING & FINANCE

Banco Angolano de Investimentos (BAI), Angola’s biggest bank by assets, posted a second straight fall in full-year profit on Wednesday, hit by surging bad loans. Local lenders, which include units of Portugal’s BPI and BES, are grappling with sour debts: recent central bank data shows bad debts totalled 5.5 percent of all loans as of June 2012, more than double since the start of the year, Reuters reported.

Sol Bank will expand internationally with new branches in Windhoek and Oshakaty cities, Namibia, with an initial capital of five million dollars, Angop reported.

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SAO TOMÉ & PRINCIPE

We hardly hear from this tiny country, but a surging São Tomé is waiting for oil in the Gulf of Guinea. Check out the article in Foreign Affairs (registration required).

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OIL & GAS

One Angolan crude cargo for loading in May, out of 60 consignments in total, hasn’t been sold, four traders who participate in the market said. That’s a bigger proportion of sold cargoes than normal for this stage of the month, Bloomberg reported.

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BRAZIL WEEKLY

Be very welcome to also visit our sister publication, Brazil Weekly, with news about developments in Brazil. Check out for instance our City Briefs about the country’s most important economic centers, with lots of relevant information for business travellers…enjoy!

THE RISE OF THE PACS

Meet three booming Portuguese-speaking African Countries. The rise of the what? Another acronym, you say? Well, why not… In Portuguese the countries are called PALOPs, the Paises Africanos de Lingua Oficial Portuguesa (or African Countries with Portuguese as Official Language). So we call them PACs. Three PACs have become booming economies and nobody is stopping them: Cape Verde, Angola and Mozambique. Check it out.

NEWS

Isabel dos Santos’s name is more widely known since, earlier this month, Forbes declared her the continent’s first female billionaire but, in her native Angola, she belongs to an elite that is so secretive it has been described as a “cryptocracy”. Read this interview in BusinessDay to get to know her better.

Torrential rains left nine people dead and flooded hundreds of homes in Luanda, local media reported.

ECONOMY

Thwarted by global financial crisis in 2009 and debt arrears in 2011 – the chance of Angola launching a debut Eurobond are better third time round thanks to its booming oil economy and foreign hunger for African debt. Angola plans to raise $1 billion through a Eurobond issue this year (Reuters).

BEST ANGOLA MUSIC & BOOKS

Be welcome to check out Atlantico Weekly’s music cd and book store in cooperation with Amazon.com! Browse the Atlantico Store for the latest and best Angolan music, like Waldemar Bastos, Bonga and many others…! Also use the Atlantico Store to find relevant maps, books on politics, economics and history as well as travel or tourist guides about Angola. You order straight with Amazon, one of the best online stores in the world. Enjoy!

AGRI ETC.

Agriculture in Angola, once the world’s fourth-biggest coffee producer, is being held back by limited competition and processing facilities and a lack of cooperation among small-scale farmers. The country for instance requires 4.5 million metric tons a year of grain, Bloomberg reported.

AVIATION

More and more African airlines are flying to Luanda: Ethiopian Airlines, Arik Air Nigeria, Equaflight, Kenya Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Air Namibia, Mozambique’s LAM and SAA all offer flights to and from Angola now, local press reported.

SAO TOMÉ & PRINCIPE

We hardly hear from this tiny country, but a surging São Tomé is waiting for oil in the Gulf of Guinea. Check out the article in Foreign Affairs (registration required).

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MINING

Angola has cut mine taxes and plans to spend billions of dollars to attract investment into mineral deposits, Geology and Mines Minister Francisco Queiroz said. The projects include the $900 million Cassinga iron-ore mine, planned fertilizer output of 400,000 metric tons a year and a $400 million manganese development. A mining law enacted in November that cut tax to 25 percent from 35 percent was followed by investment from companies including diamond producer De Beers and Sumitomo Corp., which is developing an ammonia and urea plant, Bloomberg reported.

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OIL & GAS

Angola’s government approved the guidelines of a plan to hold bidding for licences to explore for oil onshore in the Kwanza and Lower Congo basins. Angola, which is Africa’s second-largest oil producer after Nigeria, plans to ramp up crude output to 2 million barrels per day (mbpd) in 2015 from around 1.75 mbpd last year.State oil firm Sonangol, which is the main player in the oil sector in Angola, is also in charge of awarding licences. Sonangol is to seek bids for 10 onshore oil blocks in the Kwanza basin and five in the Lower Congo basin in northern Angola (Reuters).

Proven and probable oil reserve in Angola are estimated to total 12.667 billion barrels following the latest discoveries in shallow, deep and ultra-deep water, the Angola Oil Minister said, local press reported.

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BRAZIL WEEKLY

Be very welcome to also visit our sister publication, Brazil Weekly, with news about developments in Brazil. Check out for instance our City Briefs about the country’s most important economic centers, with lots of relevant information for business travellers…enjoy!

THE RISE OF THE PACS

Meet three booming Portuguese-speaking African Countries. The rise of the what? Another acronym, you say? Well, why not… In Portuguese the countries are called PALOPs, the Paises Africanos de Lingua Oficial Portuguesa (or African Countries with Portuguese as Official Language). So we call them PACs. Three PACs have become booming economies and nobody is stopping them: Cape Verde, Angola and Mozambique. Check it out.

NEWS

Angolan police arrested 18 activists staging a rare anti-government rally in the capital Luanda. The protesters accused the president of mismanaging Angola’s oil revenues, suppressing human rights and doing too little to end corruption and poverty, News24 reported.

A South African fire detection system will be used to deal with Angola’s wildfire problem. It had been dubbed the Advanced Fire Information System (Afis), News24 reported.

ECONOMY

Economic growth in Angola remains robust and in both 2012 and 2013 is expected to total 8 percent, but dependence on oil remains too high, accounting for 95 percent of exports, Deutsche Bank said (Macauhub).

Angola’s Minister for Industry in Lisbon suggested that European industrial companies with modern technology should transfer themselves to Angola, ahead of declaring insolvency due to the European economic and financial crisis, Angop reported.

BEST ANGOLA MUSIC & BOOKS

Be welcome to check out Atlantico Weekly’s music cd and book store in cooperation with Amazon.com! Browse the Atlantico Store for the latest and best Angolan music, like Waldemar Bastos, Bonga and many others…! Also use the Atlantico Store to find relevant maps, books on politics, economics and history as well as travel or tourist guides about Angola. You order straight with Amazon, one of the best online stores in the world. Enjoy!

BUSINESS

Angolan state insurance company Empresa Nacional de Seguros de Angola, television company Televisão Popular de Angola and railroad company Caminhos-de-ferro de Benguela were the only Angolan public companies that presented accounts for the 2012 financial year, local press reported.

SAO TOMÉ & PRINCIPE

We hardly hear from this tiny country, but a surging São Tomé is waiting for oil in the Gulf of Guinea. Check out the article in Foreign Affairs (registration required).

SUBSCRIBE!

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OIL & GAS

China National Petroleum Corp and Malaysia’s Petronas are considering bids for Marathon Oil Corp’s stakes in two Angolan offshore oil and gas fields, Reuters reported.

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NEWS

At least two million and 300 thousand is the number of qualified staff that Angola expects having by 2020 to meet the needs for the development of major priority points of the economy over the next five years, economist Manuel Nunes Júnior said according to ANGOP. The economist stated that these cadres will be trained to respond to the developmental needs of large groups of the economy as the mega “cluster” of geology, mining and industry, oil and gas, energy and water, forests, housing, tourism and leisure, health, education and culture, transport and logistics and financial activities.

ECONOMY

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Angola will reach an average growth of 7.1 percent in next five years. The data were released by the economist Manuel Júnior (ANGOP).

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BEST ANGOLA MUSIC & BOOKS

Be welcome to check out Atlantico Weekly’s music cd and book store in cooperation with Amazon.com! Browse the Atlantico Store for the latest and best Angolan music, like Waldemar Bastos, Bonga and many others…! Also use the Atlantico Store to find relevant maps, books on politics, economics and history as well as travel or tourist guides about Angola. You order straight with Amazon, one of the best online stores in the world. Enjoy!

LOGISTICS & TRANSPORT

Angola plans to restart a railway used to bring metal to the Atlantic Ocean port of Lobito from some of the world’s richest copper fields after a four-decade halt due to a civil war. The line from the port of Lobito will reach the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo in August, when cargo will move along the refurbished 1,344-kilometer (835-mile) line linking Lobito with Luau on the Congo border. When a branch line inside Zambia, Africa’s largest copper producer, is completed in December Lobito will be able to compete with ports in East Africa for copper exports from Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bloomberg reported.

Also, the circulation of trains between the cities of Namibe and Lubango will be resumed in April, after the construction and rehabilitation of the Moçamedes railway, ANGOP reported.

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of the four tower Sky Resident project, built in Luanda.

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BANKING

Ecobank Transnational said its full-year pretax profit rose 25 percent in 2012 to its highest ever of $348 million, compared with $277 million the previous year. The bank is seeking to enter into Equatorial Guinea, Angola and Mozambique, Reuters reported.

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OIL & GAS

Angola, Africa’s second-largest oil producer, will raise exports in May to the highest in more than three years, after one more cargo than in the preliminary plan, according to a final loading program obtained by Bloomberg News.

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NEWS

Trade between Angola and the United States in 2012 totalled US$15 billion, which was a rise of 15 percent against the US$13 billion figure for the previous year. In the period, two-way trade was significantly in Angola’s favour as it sold mainly oil and diamonds to the US, in the value of US$13 billion and imported goods worth just US$2 billion, specifically foodstuffs, equipment for the oil sector and miscellaneous machinery, international press reported.

BRAZIL WEEKLY

Be very welcome to also visit our sister publication, Brazil Weekly, with news about developments in Brazil. Check out for instance our City Briefs about the country’s most important economic centers, with lots of relevant information for business travellers…enjoy!

BEST ANGOLA MUSIC & BOOKS

Be welcome to check out Atlantico Weekly’s music cd and book store in cooperation with Amazon.com! Browse the Atlantico Store for the latest and best Angolan music, like Waldemar Bastos, Bonga and many others…! Also use the Atlantico Store to find relevant maps, books on politics, economics and history as well as travel or tourist guides about Angola. You order straight with Amazon, one of the best online stores in the world. Enjoy!

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BUSINESS

Banco BIC has applied to Namibia’s central bank to open branches in its southern neighbor and plans a representative office in Johannesburg. The bank is also studying Botswana, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Gabon, Bloomberg reported.

Angolan telecommunications company Unitel International Holding has proposed to pay US$7.5 million for a second fixed line and mobile telecommunications license in Sao Tome and Principe.

AVIATION

Yuri Gagarin International Airport, in Angola’s Namibe province, will be closed for construction work and expansion until next August.

TAAG will soon increase the number of flights it offers to China to two per week and to three per week to the United Arab Emirates, an increase of one flight per destinations, local press reported.

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OIL & GAS

Angola will raise exports in May to the most in nine months, according to a preliminary loading program obtained by Bloomberg News.

The price of crude oil will remain at more than $100 a barrel for the rest of 2013, Angolan Petroleum Minister Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos said (Bloomberg).

ENI Angola, a subsidiary of Italian group ENI, has found more oil in block 15/6 in the deep waters of the Angolan sea, the company said in a joint statement issued with Angolan oil company Sonangol.

OPINION

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NEWS

Middle class Angolans are willing to line up for days to find new homes to escape their rundown neighborhoods in Luanda. Thousands of people wait for 1,200 application spots a day at Kilamba, a new Chinese-built city of 5,400 hectares (13,300 acres), while other sites at Cacuaco, Capari, Kilometer 44 and Zango are also filling up, Bloomberg reported.

Angola received a boost to its free speech from the Portuguese courts, which refused to allow Angolan generals to stop the publication of a book exposing corruption and human rights abuses in the southern African country’s lucrative diamond mines (News24).

BRAZIL WEEKLY

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ECONOMY

Jose Filomeno de Sousa dos Santos, director for strategy at the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Angola — better known by its Portuguese acronym FSDEA — says the fund’s priority is to invest in industries, manufacturing and infrastructure. It is keen to put that cash in Angolan projects, as well as those of key ally South Africa, and possibly western economies (BusinessDay).

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BUSINESS

Banco BIC SA, Angola’s biggest private bank in terms of branches, has $760 million to expand its network and carry out an acquisition in Brazil. Banco BIC, which bought Banco Portugues de Negocios SA from the Portuguese government last year for 40 million euros, a transaction that didn’t include all BPN subsidiaries, agreed to pay another 30 million euros for BPN’s Cape Verde unit, Bloomberg reported.

Procana, the programme for sugar cane production in Angola’s Kwanza Sul province, which has been at a standstill since 2010, requires investment of at least US$623 million, ANGOP reported.

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OIL & GAS

A liquefied natural gas carrier signaled that it’s sailing to Angola, prompting speculation shipments of the fuel from a project in the West African country may soon start after more than a year’s delay, Bloomberg reported.

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NEWS

Angola’s Transport Minister Augusto da Silva Tomás said that three railway lines would soon be built in Angola’s capital, Luanda, for passenger transport. The study for the Luanda metropolitan light railway is in its concluding stages and the railway would meet passenger transport needs. One of the three lines will link the centre of Luanda to the new international airport and the others would link the city centre to Talatona and Kilamba Kiaxi. The project would require construction of a central station in Luanda where all modes of passenger transport would come together (road, rail and individual transport), Angop reported.

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ECONOMY

The London Stock Exchange expects an increase in new listings from African companies this year as businesses in the continent’s fast-growing economies seek to attract foreign investors. London, which has seen a general drop off in listing activity over the past few years due to the global financial crisis, expects companies from countries including Mozambique could go public on its markets. The LSE has been on a push to secure links with exchanges in emerging economies and has been involved in helping to develop the stock exchange and capital markets infrastructure in resource-rich Mongolia. It is now hoping to do a similar thing in Angola, Reuters reported.

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BUSINESS

The transport of cargo by rail in Angola will begin this month from the port of Luanda for the first time in two decades. The target is to move 615,000 metric tons a year. Cargo will move along the refurbished line from the capital to the city of Malange, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) inland, and from the Boa Vista cargo terminal near the port to Viana, a town 26 kilometers to the east with a special economic zone to encourage industry, according to Bloomberg.

Angola is an attractive market for investments in container cargo transport, the director for Angola of the Maersk group, Cláudio Rosa, said. Rosa said that the group’s port productivity in Angola had improved over the last six years, increasing from seven movements per hour in 2006 to 25 movements in 2012 (Macauhub).

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OIL & GAS

Angola’s state oil firm Sonangol has teamed up with a Trafigura joint venture DT Group to set up a global LNG trading desk. The new company, Sonaci DT Pte Ltd., will market both Angola’s new LNG exports and cargoes sourced on the international market. Sonaci DT Pte Ltd. will hire trading teams in Geneva and Singapore (Reuters).

OPINION

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TOURISM

The prospects for tourism growth in Angola, specifically the target of welcoming 4.6 million tourists to the country in 2020, were re-stated at the Lisbon Tourism fair (BTL). Structural activities to improve tourism development hubs, along with the tourism development fund, training, promotion of social tourism and others activities were behind the increasing number of tourists visiting Angola, Macauhub reported.

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OPINION

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ECONOMY

Fuel subsidies are unfair because they benefit the rich who drive SUVs more than the poor, Nicholas Staines, the IMF’s representative in Angola, said (Bloomberg).

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BUSINESS

Sonangol has increased its stake in Millennium bcp, Portugal’s largest listed bank by assets, to 19.44 percent.

OIL & GAS

The production of crude-oil in Angola is currently superior to 1.7 million barrels per day and it is expected to reach 2 million barrels in 2014 or 2015, ANGOP reported.

Angola has delayed plans to begin exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) because of technical problems at its $10 billion plant, a senior executive at state oil firm Sonangol saidaccording to Reuters.

Sonangol plans this year to auction of 15 onshore oil blocks, the company’s chairman said.

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NEWS

The government in 2013 plans to spend $49.9 billion and collect revenue of $45.8 billion, resulting in a $4.1 billion deficit, according to budget documents. It expects to receive about $19 billion in loans and foreign aid, Bloomberg reported.

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PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of the Port of Barra do Dande, planned 40 kms north of Luanda, set to become Angola’s main port in the future.

Render of the Hotel Ekuikui 1, to be built in Huambo.

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ECONOMY

Angola will start an electronic bond market within months and a stock market within two years, central bank Governor Jose de Lima Massano said according to Bloomberg.

Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) and Zambia have decided to put together a joint plan for the repair, maintenance and operation of the Lobito Corridor railroad, Macauhub reported.

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NEWS

Angola’s constitutional court rejected a claim by an opposition party that President Jose Eduardo dos Santos had overstepped his powers to create the country’s $5 billion sovereign wealth fund. Angola launched the fund last October to invest in domestic and overseas assets by funnelling the country’s vast oil wealth into infrastructure, hotels and other high-growth projects. The announcement of the fund raised criticism from opposition groups about transparency as it did not give parliament any oversight and appointed one of the president’s sons to the fund’s management board. Opposition party CASA-CE in December asked the constitutional court to overturn the creation of the fund, arguing that the constitution did not allow a president to create reserve funds by decree without the approval of parliament (Reuters).

Turkey is once again expected to be the biggest foreign participant in this year’s edition of the Luanda International Fair (Filda), overtaking Portugal. At the 30th edition of the fair, due to take place in July, Turkey, as in the 2012 edition, will have the largest number of exhibiting foreign companies, with a 5,000 square metre pavilion (Macauhub reported).

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of the Hotel Ekuikui 1, to be built in Huambo.

BEST ANGOLA MUSIC & BOOKS

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ECONOMY

Angola’s central bank has room to lower interest rates to spur investmen, Governor Jose de Lima Massano said. Policy makers cut the benchmark interest rate for the first time in a year in January, lowering it to 10 percent from 10.25 percent as inflation slowed. Commercial banks charge borrowers between 12 percent and 14 percent (Bloomberg).

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OIL & GAS

Sonangol has concluded a deal on a one billion Euro loan with the China Development Bank, Angop reported.
The money will be refunded in a 10 years period, at an annual interest rate of 3,50 per cent.

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NEWS

Angola’s government has suspended a Pentecostal church from conducting any activities for 60 days after a New Year’s Eve stampede during an overcrowded religious vigil killed 16 people, News24 reported.

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of the mixed project for Luanda called Amilcar Cabral, named after the street on which it will be erected. Who doesn’t know who Amilcar was?

BEST ANGOLA MUSIC & BOOKS

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ECONOMY

Angola plans to buy an undecided number of locomotives from US group General Electric (GE), the director of the Angolan National Railways Institute (INCFA), Júlio Bango Joaquim said.

AVIATION

Three more Boeing 777- 300 ER planes will be purchased until 2016 by TAAG, Angop reported.

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MINING

Within the next three to four years Angola will have a complete map of all the mining resources in the country, the Ministry for Geology and Mining, Francisco Queiroz said.

OIL & GAS

Angola plans to export 56 cargoes totaling 1.74 million barrels a day of crude in March, compared with 49 shipments for February, according to a final shipping schedule obtained by Bloomberg News.

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NEWS

Evangelical churches are blooming in Angola, a traditionally devout Catholic nation, as its impoverished people turn to the promises of proselytism and Protestantism. In a country of about 19 million people, Pope Benedict XVI drew a crowd of one million faithful when he visited the former Portuguese colony in 2009, and three in five Angolans belong to the faith. But a few years later, the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ on Earth claims at least 800 000 followers. Similarly, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, commonly known as IURD, counts 400 000 members. Read on at News24.

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of the Edificio Kwanza residential building for Luanda.

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Be welcome to check out Atlantico Weekly’s music cd and book store in cooperation with Amazon.com! Browse the Atlantico Store for the latest and best Angolan music, like Waldemar Bastos, Bonga and many others…! Also use the Atlantico Store to find relevant maps, books on politics, economics and history as well as travel or tourist guides about Angola. You order straight with Amazon, one of the best online stores in the world. Enjoy!

ECONOMY

A staff team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), led by Mr. Mauro Mecagni, visited Luanda from January 16 to January 29, 2013, to conduct the Second Post-Program Monitoring mission following the completion of the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) with Angola. Some of its conclusions can be found here.

Trains on the Benguela Railroad (CFB) in Angola are scheduled to arrive in the Luau municipality, on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), next August, an engineer from the China Railway 20 Bureau Group Corporation said to Angop.

BANKING

Banco BPI Chief Executive Officer Fernando Ulrich said the Portuguese lender will keep a controlling stake in Banco de Fomento Angola and add branches in the African country, Bloomberg reported.

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OIL & GAS

BP said it had begun production from the PSVM development area in Block 31 offshore Angola and expects to ramp up output to around 70,000 barrels of oil per day.

Sonangol and Democratic Republic of Congo’s Cohydro plan to develop a shared offshore oil block, Congolese Oil Minister Crispin Atama said. Angola and Congo each control half the block in the so- called zone of common interest in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the neighboring countries and which is linked to billionaire Israeli investor Dan Gertler (Bloomberg).

TELECOMS

Telecommunications operator Unitel plans to invest 130 billion kwanzas (US$1.353 billion) in expanding its network until 2015, the director and assistant director-general of Unitel for the technical area, Amilcar Safeca said.

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NEWS

Local authorities in Luanda are building new markets on the city’s outskirts to end street vending in the capital, Angop reported. New markets now nearing completion will offer comfort and security to vendors and buyers.

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of the Radisson hotel for Luanda, currently under construction.

BEST ANGOLA MUSIC & BOOKS

Be welcome to check out Atlantico Weekly’s music cd and book store in cooperation with Amazon.com! Browse the Atlantico Store for the latest and best Angolan music, like Waldemar Bastos, Bonga and many others…! Also use the Atlantico Store to find relevant maps, books on politics, economics and history as well as travel or tourist guides about Angola. You order straight with Amazon, one of the best online stores in the world. Enjoy!

ECONOMY

Four private investment contracts worth US$144.7 million have been signed at the National Private Investment Agency (ANIP), Angop reported. The four contracts cover investment in the industry, construction and service sectors by the companies Topack Industries (Mauritius), Anhui Construction Engineering Group (China), Oasis Alamane (Pakistan and Mauritania) and Aggreko (Scotland) and would create 430 jobs and help transfer technologies and train national personnel.

MINING

Escom Investimentos e Participacoes SA, an Angolan company with interests from mining to property, plans to start output from a diamond deposit in May, company President Helder Bataglia said. The Tchegi alluvial site will produce, together with Escom’s existing Luo kimberlite mine, a total of about 35,000 carats a month by the end of the year, Bloomberg reported.

De Beers, the world’s biggest diamond producer, said it’s confident of finding a gem deposit in Angola that will allow it to more than recoup the $250 million it has spent on exploration, Bloomberg reported.

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NEWS

Angola granted more than 116 visas a day to Chinese citizens in the last six months of 2012, the vast majority linked to Chinese investment into the country, ANGOP reported. A total of 21 225 visas were granted to Chinese citizens in the last six months, amid a flood of investment into the country’s energy and other sectors.

Angola in 2012 ranked 158th among the 177 countries and territories in the Index of Economic Freedom and 40th among the 46 sub-Saharan African countries, The Heritage Foundation concluded.

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of the Mediateca project for Luanda.

BEST ANGOLA MUSIC & BOOKS

Be welcome to check out Atlantico Weekly’s music cd and book store in cooperation with Amazon.com! Browse the Atlantico Store for the latest and best Angolan music, like Waldemar Bastos, Bonga and many others…! Also use the Atlantico Store to find relevant maps, books on politics, economics and history as well as travel or tourist guides about Angola. You order straight with Amazon, one of the best online stores in the world. Enjoy!

ECONOMY

The balance of trade between China and Angola from January to November 2012 reached a record amount of Akz 3.5 trillion, ANGOP reported.

The Angolan government current accounts will record an Akz 405,4 billion deficit, which will be the country’s first negative balance since 2009, ANGOP reported.

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AVIATION

TAAG carried around 1.1 million passengers in 2012, which represents growth of 11 percent against the number of passengers seen in 2011, the Angolan press reported. The company’s revenues in 2012 exceeded US$650 million, which was a real rise of US$120 million or growth of 22.6 percent.

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BUSINESS

Angola’s National Agency for Private Investment (ANIP) signed investment contracts with a total value of 1.536 billion kwanzas (US$16 million), mentioned in this article at Macauhub.

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NEWS

Nine former military officers from the Democratic Republic of Congo have been arrested in Angola, suspected of hatching a plot to destabilise their homeland, News24 reported.

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of the TV Tower for Luanda, designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Ferreira (Skyscrapercity).

BEST ANGOLA MUSIC & BOOKS

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OIL & GAS

Angola’s oil sector entered 2013 with a brilliant scenario in which production is close to record levels seen in 2008 due to the start of exploration of a new oil well and overcoming technical difficulties at others. In its latest report on Angola, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said that the Plutão, Saturno, Vénus and Marte (PSVM) oil field, in an initial stage and the first shipment from which is due this month, will add 150,000 barrels of oil per day to the country’s production (Macauhub).

TOURISM

The development plan for Angola’s Cabinda province for the 2013/2017 period includes construction of a tourist resort on the banks of the Luali River, ANGOP reported.

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NEWS

The death toll from a New Year’s Eve stampede during a religious vigil at an overcrowded stadium in Luanda has risen to 16, the Angolan press reported.

Angosat, Angola’s first space satellite is now being built and should be launched in three years, the country’s secretary of state for Telecommunications and Information Technology announced.

ECONOMY

Angola’s central bank has left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 10.25 percent for the 11th consecutive month, Reuters reported.

The resumption of the commuters and cargo train services in different  provinces, linking the cities of Kuito, Huambo, Lobito and Luena has been making significant  contributions to the socioeconomic development of the regions, such as the central Bie Province, ANGOP reported.

The resumption of the construction works of the Logistics and Distribution Centres (CLOD’s) in the provinces of Luanda and Huambo, as well as the warehouses for the collection, cleaning and analysis of products are the main actions outlined by the Trade Ministry for the year 2013, ANGOP reported.

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POWER

Huambo province will install 30 500kv solar power plants in 2013 to cover its power deficit. Proposals for the public tender to build the plants in the province’s 11 municipalities were opened last November and costs would be covered by the European Union, Macauhub reported.

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OIL & GAS

An average 1.7 million barrels of crude oil were produced in Angola from January to November 2012, a period marked by the start of production in the Phase I of the Block 15 Kizomba Satellite Project on the country’s offshore, ANGOP reported.

Sonangol is expected in 2013 to hold a second auction of exploration licenses for the pre-salt layer in Angola, this time for onshore blocks, state news agency Angop reported. According to Angop ten blocks will be auctioned off in the Soyo Basin and five in the Kwanza Basin.