POLITICS

Long-serving Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos is keeping his country and the world guessing about whether he will bid for re-election in 2012 in Africa’s No. 2 oil producer (Reuters).

But Angola is preparing the necessary legal mechanisms to hold a well organised, transparent and fair parliamentary election in late 2012, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said (Reuters).

The Catholic Church in Angola on Saturday condemned a new bill to decriminalise abortion in the southern African country. Justice Minister Guilhermina Prata proposed the draft law to Angola’s parliament two months ago to curb clandestine abortions, which have caused the death of many young girls in the country (News24).

Angola’s government must account for a staggering $32bn missing from state coffers in a country where most suffer immense poverty despite the nation’s massive oil wealth, Human Rights Watch said (News24).

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ECONOMY

Angola will be among the world fastest growing economies in 2012, with a growth rate of around 10%, according to The Economist.

Angola’s foreign exchange reserves dropped to $23.27 billion in November, a preliminary document published on Angola’s central bank website showed. Reserves declined from $23.36 billion in October, according to the Luanda-base Banco Nacional de Angola. Reserves jumped 34 percent from the end of 2010, BNA said (Bloomberg).

Angola’s electricity sector will absorb investment of US$16.5 billion by 2016 in the production, transmission and distribution segments, according to a study presented by Angola’s Energy and Water Minister at the Cambambe dam (Macauhub).

The Angolan government is due to introduce new tax codes in January, which are the central focus of reform of the country’s tax system, with the aim of increasing state revenues and boosting economic growth and increasing the efficiency of business activities. Launched in 2010, the Executive Programme for Tax Reform (PERT) will involve introduction of three new laws: The General Tax Code, the Tax Process Code and the Fiscal Execution Code, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit in its latest report on Angola (Macauhub).

SPLIT SECOND POLL

BUSINESS

Angola’s government has approved the entry of Portugal’s largest retailer Sonae into the southern African country’s food retail market with a $103 million investment, the cabinet said (Reuters).

Italy’s oil and gas major Eni and Angola’s national oil company Sonangol have signed an agreement to develop joint mining initiatives in Angola and abroad and other deals (Reuters).

In 2012 Angola may install a new digital television system as part of its cooperation with Japan, thus becoming the first African company to use the system (Macauhub).

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AGRI ETC

Angola produced 50,000 sacks of Robusta coffee in the 2011 coffee harvest representing 3,000 tons of coffee, according to the International Coffee Organisation (Macauhub).

OIL & GAS

Maersk Oil, the Nordic region’s second-largest producer, reported the first discovery in Angola’s deep-sea pre-salt region. The Azul-1 well in the Kwanza Basin was drilled to a depth of 5,334 meters (17,500 feet) and was found to have a potential capacity of more than 3,000 barrels a day (Bloomberg).

Norwegian energy company Statoil said it had been named operator of two deepwater blocks in the Kwanza Basin off Angola in its first assignment to lead exploration and production off the West African nation (Reuters).

Oil major BP has expanded its presence in Angola, gaining positions in five new blocks (Reuters).

Oil major Total said it had signed three offshore production sharing agreements with Angolan state oil producer Sonangol that will allow the French group to expand its presence (Reuters).

Petrobras said it will start drilling oil in deep waters off Africa early next year on bets the area may mirror Brazilian deposits across the Atlantic (Bloomberg).

PORTS

The commercial port of Lobito, in Angola, between January and 24 December of this year handled over 2.7 million tons of cargo, as compared to 1.3 million in 2010, the chairman of the port’s board of directors, Anapaz de Jesus Neto said (Macauhub).

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of the triple 20 floor Octano towers for Luanda (Source).

POLITICS

Angola’s political parties reached a deal on a new electoral law, ending months of negotiations over who will organise a general election next year (Reuters).

Angola, Africa’s second-largest crude producer, has appointed Manuel Vicente as chairman of the state oil company Sonangol EP for three more years (Bloomberg).

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SPLIT SECOND POLL

ECONOMY

Angola continues to make progress towards macroeconomic stability, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a report. As well as exchange arte stability, the IMF noted a drop in interest rates and a return to previous foreign reserve levels at a faster-than-expected rate (Macauhub).

Angola still owes US$5.6 billion of the US$9 billion in loans it took out from four Chinese financial institutions, Angola’s Finance Minister Carlos Lopes said (Macauhub).

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BANKING

Portuguese and Angolan owned bank Banco BIC signed a framework agreement with a view to buying Portuguese nationalised bank Banco Português de Negócios (BPN) from the Portuguese state (Macauhub).

MINING

Sociedade Portuguesa de Empreendimentos, the Portuguese state investor facing a diamond- mine shutdown in Angola, said it’s in talks with authorities in the African country to resolve a funding dispute. The investor, known as SPE, is seeking a solution to the impasse over the Lucapa joint venture (Bloomberg Businessweek).

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of the Grande Mar hotel complex for Benguela (Skyscrapercity).

POLITICS

President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has sacked Energy Minister Emanuela Vieira Lopes, blaming the disappointing development of the country’s electricity sector. Dos Santos replaced him with Joao Batista Borges, a Secretary of State in the energy ministry (Reuters).

The National Union for Total Independence of Angola, or Unita, a former rebel movement, will meet Dec. 13 to Dec. 16 to choose between current party head Isaias Samakuva and Jose Pedro Katchiungo, a former intelligence officer. The winner will take part in national elections planned for the last quarter of 2012, in what would be the first vote for president since 1992 (Bloomberg).

Angolan youths and police clashed at an anti-government rally in Luanda, injuring three protesters and leading to several arrests, Portuguese state news agency Lusa reported (Reuters).

Angola’s police denied media reports that protesters had been arrested during an anti-government rally this weekend (Reuters).

Angolan authorities have used force to suppress peaceful demonstrations and blocked journalists from covering protest rallies in the run-up to an election next year, Human Rights Watch said (News24).

ECONOMY

Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole has a trade surplus with China, but among individual countries, Angola and Zambia are dominant. Most of the rest of the continent has a deficit with China. Angola and Zambia benefit the most because 90% of African exports to China are fuels and mining products. Exports to China account for 31% of Angola’s GDP (Reuters).

Tax revenues from non-oil activities from January to October in Angola totalled 23 billion kwanzas as compared to a projection of 17 billion from the Finance Ministry, the director of the Technical Unit for the Executive Tax Reform Project (PERT) said in Lubango (Macauhub).

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AGRI ETC

Credit provided in Angola as part of the agricultural credit campaign in November totalled over US$67.5 million and had benefitted 35,000 rural workers from 75 municipalities in 17 of the country’s 18 provinces (Macauhub).

AVIATION

Arik Air, West and Central Africa’s largest commercial carrier, is to begin scheduled flights from its hub in Lagos to the Angolan capital, Luanda, becoming the first and only Nigerian carrier to operate scheduled flights between the two cities. The first flight is to launch on 13th December (2011) and will operate twice weekly on Tuesdays and Saturdays (Nigerian Bulletin).

Royal Air Maroc added Angola’s capital Luanda (LAD) to its network on 1 December. The airline now flies twice-weekly from Casablanca (CMN) via Libreville (LBV) in Gabon – a route already served by the airline – onward to Luanda. Flights are operated with 162-seat 737-800 aircraft. This is the only service between North Africa and the Angolan capital (Anna).

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MINING

Angolan diamond company Endiama, Kassypal and Sociedade Geral de Minas (SGM) signed two contracts for diamond prospecting and mining. The contract between Endiama and Kassypal, an António Mosquito group company, relates to the Uári alluvium project, which will be carried out in Lunda Norte province (Macauhub).

OIL & GAS

Maersk Oil, Scandinavia’s second- largest producer, will release the results of the first so- called pre-salt well drilled in the Kwanza Basin off Angola within a month, the company’s chief executive officer said. The company plans to drill wells in two more of its offshore Angolan blocks next year. Drilling pre-salt wells is technically challenging because the deposits lie below a layer of salt two kilometers thick (Bloomberg).

Angola and Congo Republic agreed to share production from the Lianzi oil field, which straddles the maritime border of the two African countries, Congo’s hydrocarbons ministry said (Bloomberg).

PORTS & LOGISTICS

The Porto Amboim Oceanic Terminal facilities (TOPA), with capacity to store 35,400 cubic metres of fuel, were inaugurated by the chairman of Angolan state oil company Sonangol, Manuel Vicente (Macauhub).

POLITICS

Transparency International’s global corruption index for 2011 is out and it shows Angola is still among the world’s 15 most corrupt nations (Reuters).

INTERNATIONAL

Angola’s Benguela railroad is due to arrive at the Zambian border in 2012, the Angolan Transport Minister said in Lobito adding that it was necessary for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia, “to do their work,” to have “links between the railroad networks” (Macauhub).

ECONOMY

Angola’s central bank has left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 10.5 percent and said after a monthly review of its monetary policy that inflation was falling in line with the government’s target (Reuters).

Angola’s debt is $31.4 billion, said Finance Minister Carlos Alberto Lopes. The southwest African country’s external debt is $17.8 billion, including $5.6 billion owed to China, $1.8 billion to Brazil, $1.4 billion to Portugal and $1.2 billion to Spain, Lopes told state-run Televisao Publica de Angola. Domestic debt, issued as treasury bills to finance public spending, is $13.6 billion (Bloomberg).

A programme to support micro, small and mid-size companies in Angola will have funding of US$274 million starting in 2012, Economy Ministry consultant Licínio Vaz Contreiras said in Lubango in Angola’s Huíla province (Macauhub).

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BUSINESS

Diageo, the world biggest distiller,  plans to set up a distributing company in Angola, Africa’s second-biggest oil producer, to introduce Guinness beer (Bloomberg).

In March, after five years of negotiation and an investment worth more than $160-million, Angolata, Nampak’s single biggest African greenfield investment, finally switched on its production line. The factory, the first of its kind in Angola, supplies cans for Coca-Cola Bottling Luanda — managed by Castel — and the local beer Cuca, also part of the Castel Group. It produces 1 800 330ml cans a minute, totalling up to 750-million a year. “It has not been easy to get to where we are now,” said South African Willie Viljoen, the general manager for manufacturing (Mail & Guardian).

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OIL & GAS

Angola will give oil firms, commercial banks and monetary policymakers up to two years to adjust to a new law forcing oil companies to use the country’s banking system, Central Bank Governor Jose de Lima Massano was quoted as saying (Reuters).

Angola LNG is on track to deliver its first liquefied natural gas exports in early 2012 and is looking to sell its LNG to non-U.S. buyers after prices there plummeted due to an increase in domestic gas production, a company executive said (Reuters).

Wood Group’s new Angola-based joint venture (JV) has been boosted by a multi-million pound order from BP. The energy services provider said the contract won by Wood Group Kianda involved maintenance work at BP’s fields in offshore Angola (BBC).

PORTS

The port of Barra do Dande, in Angola’s Bengo province north of Luanda, will be one of the largest in Africa, the director-general of the Martime and Port Institute of Angola, Victor Carvalho said (Macauhub).

SPLIT SECOND POLL

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

The new headquarters of the Angolan National Assembly, which is being built by Portuguese company Teixeira Duarte Engenharia, is expected to be finished in August 2013 (Macauhub).

POLITICS

Angola is budgeting to spend 23.4 billion kwanza ($246 million) to prepare for and hold elections next year, Jornal de Angola reported, citing Treasury Secretary Alcides Safeca (Bloomberg).

INTERNATIONAL

Crisis-hit Portugal’s cries for help from Angola, a former colony, show not only how tough times are for Lisbon, they also give the oil-rich African nation a chance to boost its foreign investments and prestige at bargain prices. Analysts say the most likely route is by taking part in a fire-sale privatisation programme that includes the off-loading of state holdings in utility EDP, grid operator REN , oil and gas firm Galp and airline TAP (Reuters).

Banco Comercial Portugues SA (BCP), Portugal’s second-biggest bank by market value, rose 11 percent in Lisbon trading on speculation Angolan investors may raise their stake in the lender (Bloomberg).

Portuguese shipyard company Estaleiros Navais de Viana do Castelo may be privatised Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho said in Luanda, adding that there were Angolan investors interested in the deal (Macauhub).

The 17th edition of the International Wine, Fish and Agri-Food Salon (Sisab), held in Lisbon from 27 to 29 February 2012, will be attended by at least 200 Angolan buyers, double the number of the previous year, one of the event’s organisers said (Macauhub).

Brazil has a credit line for Angola of over US$5 billion, which may be increased if necessary, Brazil’s Minister for Development, Industry and Foreign Trade said. Speaking on his arrival in the Angolan capital, Fernando Pimentel, who is accompanied by a delegation of ministry officials and 53 businesspeople, said that the team was in Angola to discuss financing for investment projects in Angola, as part of the credit line (Macauhub).

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ECONOMY

Economic growth in Angola will see a “significant push” in 2012, to close to two digits, due to the start of natural gas production, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The production of natural gas, after an investment of US$9 billion led by Chevron an Sonangol, is due to begin in December, “several months ahead of schedule,” and the recent drop in fuel prices on the main export market, the United States, is leading the oil companies to also focus on Asia (Macauhub).

AVIATION

Angola plans to give a Chinese company a concession of as much as 25 years to manage a new international airport south of the capital, Luanda. CIF Airport Construction is building the airport, with the first phase of the project probably complete by the second half of 2012 (Bloomberg).

Improvements introduced in the safety standards of Angolan flagship airline Taag led to the European Union authorising it to carry out flights to the European air space using two more aircraft, airline executive Rui Carreira said (Macauhub).

Angolan state airport manager, Enana, has invested US$200 million in the refurbishment and modernisation of several of the country’s airports the Minister for Territorial Administration, Bornito de Sousa said (Macauhub).

BANKING & FINANCE

The value of insurance premiums in Angola increased from US$86 million in 2001 to US$636 million in 2009 and US$800 million in 2010, Finance Minister Carlos Alberto Lopes said (Macauhub).

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OIL & GAS

Italian oil and gas group Eni said it will evaluate with Angola opportunities for new joint initiatives in the country to develop the oil and gas sector (Reuters).

The Pazflor floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit for oil and natural gas, has introduced an innovation to the world oil industry by being the first to separate oil and gas beneath the sea (Macauhub).

Portuguese oil group Galp Energia wants to double its oil production in Angola and to do that plans to invest, by 2020, 1 billion euros in that market (Macauhub).

POLITICS

President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said he remains available for any mission decided by his MPLA party, signalling he is ready to lead the party in a general election scheduled for the third quarter of next year (Reuters).

Three new tax codes, specifically the General Tax Code, the Tax Process Code and the Fiscal execution Code are due to come into force in Angola on 1 January, 2012 (Macauhub).

INTERNATIONAL

Brazil’s President Rousseff ordered the creation of an “Africa Group” this month led by her trade and industry minister, Fernando Pimentel, to refresh its push in the region. Pimentel will lead government officials and business executives this month on a 10-day mission to explore opportunities in the three countries that Rousseff recently visited – Angola, Mozambique, and South Africa (Reuters).

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) praised the Angolan government for the economic and tax reforms its had put in place and approved the release of the new tranche of its US$134.8 million loan (Macauhub).

Portugal’s prime minister has arrived in oil-rich Angola, which is boosting its investment in its former colonial power caught up in the eurozone debt crisis. Angolan presidential aide Carlos Maria Feijo said Portugal’s privatisation scheme would be discussed (BBC).

President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said his country is ready to help former colonial ruler Portugal as the crisis-hit European country’s prime minister made a visit to drum up investment (AFP).

ECONOMY

Angola and Mozambique are amongst the biggest growing economies over the last decade but, whilst the Angolan economy has grown because of oil, the Mozambican economy has experienced more diverse growth, according to Foreign Policy magazine (Macauhub).

DEFENSE & SECURITY

Planum GP AD, a Serbian construction company, expects to clinch contracts worth $1 billion in Angola when the African country’s defense officials visit Belgrade next month. Work to build a military hospital, arms factories and to rebuild an air base was discussed when Serbian defense minister Dragan Sutanovac’s visited Luanda in September and an agreement may be signed during the coming visit by Angolan defense officials (Bloomberg).

The vicious drug cartels in Colombia and Mexico regularly make headlines, but there has been remarkably less public attention to the growing role of Brazil—and Brazilian organized crime —as a major player in the global trade in illicit narcotics. Angola, which calls Brazil its largest trading partner and ranks among the top destinations for Brazilian exports, is a case in point. Between 2005 and 2009, trade between Brazil and Angola increased from $520 million to $1.5 billion, an increase of 183 percent. By 2009, more than 90 percent of the drugs that reached Angola by air were brought from Brazil, mostly transported by African “mules” (Americas Quarterly).

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BUSINESS

A group of Japanese firms has won a contract that is likely be worth more than 100 billion yen ($1.3 billion) to build a plant in Angola that will produce raw materials for fertilizers, the Nikkei business daily reported (Reuters).

BANKING

Banco Sol, an Angolan lender, granted loans of $500 million for investment projects in the southern African nation this year, the Luanda-based Jornal de Angola reported, citing Coutinho Nobre Miguel, its chief executive officer (Bloomberg).

Angolan bank Banco Africano de Investimentos (BAI) has officially changed its name to Banco Angolano de Investimentos (BAI). The marketing department said that the new name of BAI was due to the need to promote the name of the country, be a brand that represents the values of Angola and create an identity that identifies the bank as having its decision-making centre in Angola (Macauhub).

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OIL & GAS

PT Pertamina, Indonesia’s state- owned oil company, bought three cargoes of West African crude totaling as much as 3 million barrels for loading in December via a tender. The company bought one cargo each of Angolan Nemba and Nigerian Akpo grades from Royal Dutch Shell and one lot of Angolan Girassol blend from Repsol (Bloomberg).

The United State of America will be the main export market for the natural gas produced by the Angola LNG project, the head of the production department of the Oil Ministry, Alcides Santos said in Moscow, Russia (Macauhub).

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of the new Club Nautico for Lobito (Source).

ECONOMY

The new board of the National Private Investment Agency (ANIP) in Angola plans to increase inspection of investment projects agreed with the agency, the new president Maria Luísa Abrantes said in Luanda (Macauhub).

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BANKING

Angola’s parliament approved a law that forces overseas oil companies to pay their taxes and other transactions through the country’s banking system (Reuters).

MINING

Angola Polishing Diamonds SA processes $4 million of gems a month, said Miguel Bondo Junior, director of the company (Bloomberg).

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REGIONAL ANGOLA

The city of Luanda will have seven more shopping centres in 2012 as a result of opportunities created by road restructuring and expansion of the real estate market, according to a study on the prospects for the sector from 2011 to 2014 (Macauhub).

The Huíla industrial park in Angola over the last nine years has attracted investments of US$234 million, most of which in the form of private investment in light industry, the provincial director for Industry, Geology and Mining said in Lubango (Macauhub).

SPLIT SECOND POLLS

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of the three eleven floor Corimba Towers for Luanda (Skyscrapercity).

ECONOMY

Angola’s economy will probably expand by 12 percent next year, Jornal de Angola reported, citing a government budget report. Inflation is likely to be less than 12 percent for 2011 (Bloomberg).

INTERNATIONAL

The case of an 18-year-old Angolan asylum seeker has proved tricky for the Dutch parliament, as politicians debate whether Mauro Manuel should be given the right to remain in the Netherlands (BBC).

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BANKING & FINANCE

Angola’s financial officials have said that Angolan banks that are controlled by Portuguese banking groups may be nationalised. The threat would only be carried out if the Portuguese government interferes in the management of the Portuguese banking groups that require public funding, following the decisions approved by the European Council (Macauhub).

Angola plans to introduce a fund to guarantee bank deposits next year, state news agency Angop cited the country’s central bank Governor Jose de Lima Massano as saying (Reuters).

Interest rates charged by Angolan commercial banks on loans to companies and individuals are too high, Agencia Angola Press reported, citing central bank Governor Jose de Lima Massano (Bloomberg).

Angola’s banking system is likely to expand as “several” foreign lenders apply for licenses to operate there, attracted by the country’s strong economic growth potential, according to accounting firm KPMG LLP (Bloomberg).

The market penetration of the banking system in Angola in 2010 totalled just 11 percent of an estimated population of 18 million despite investments made by financial institutions in expanding business, according to a study on the Angolan banking system (Macauhub).

Banco Africano de Investimentos (BAI) in 2010 was the Angolan banking market leader by total assets totalling 775.692 billion kwanzas, according to a study by KPMG (Macauhub).

The forecast for the business portfolio of Angolan insurance company Empresa Nacional de Seguros (ENSA) for this year is estimated at US$300 million, the commercial director of ENSA, Manuel Assis said (Macauhub).

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OIL & GAS

Privately-owned Argentine oil company, Pluspetrol, expects first output from its Angolan oilfield in the Cabinda region late next year, a senior Pluspetrol official said (Reuters).

Marathon Oil Corp., the U.S. energy producer looking to shed up to $3 billion in assets, is exploring a sale of a stake in Angolan operations for as much as $800 million (Bloomberg).

Oil production in Angola currently stands at 1.75 million barrels per day, which is ten times the level of production in 1975 immediately after the country’s independence, Angola’s Oil Minister said (Macauhub).

SOCIAL

The northern Angolan province of Uige has declared a state of medical emergency after a 14-month-old boy tested positive for polio, which has made a resurgence in the country, Unicef said (News24).

POLITICS

The president of oil-rich Angola denied his country was a dictatorship but admitted there was a need for more social dialogue after a series of unprecedented anti-government protests (News24).

Angola plans to approve a 4.42 trillion-kwanza ($46.5 billion) 2012 budget proposal in December, Luanda-based Agencia Angola Press reported, citing the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Norberto Fernando dos Santos (Bloomberg).

Angola’s main opposition party, Unita, denied organising any of the protests calling on the long-serving president to resign, the state news agency Angop quoted party leader Isaias Samakuv (News24).

ECONOMY

The Angolan government is working to augment the broadband network, aiming for a data transmission capacity of more than 1.5 megabits per second, the president of the Angolan Communications Institute (Inacom) said (Macauhub).

The Angolan economy has shown great vitality, which is very clear from indicators such as its gross domestic product (GDP) and foreign direct investment (FDI), the chairman of Deloitte Angola, Rui Santos Silva said (Macauhub).

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BUSINESS

Alcoa , the largest U.S. aluminum producer, said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Angola to explore development of a 750,000-metric-ton-per-year smelter (Reuters).

A business delegation from Japan has presented to the Angolan government a proposal to build and launch a satellite able to detect geological and mining resources, among other functions, the Angolan press reports (Macauhub).

AVIATION

Angola’s transport minister Augusto Tomás said in Viana municipality, in Luanda, that the new Luanda airport would be completely finished within 26 months. The minister also said that at the end of August 2012 the first phase of construction of the new Luanda airport would be inaugurated. The new airport is located around 40 kilometres from the capital (Macauhub).

Luanda’s new international airport is designed to rival Johannesburg airport, in South Africa, and will serve as a traffic distribution hub for the region, according to the Africa Monitor newsletter (Macauhub).

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OIL & GAS

U.S. oilfield services company Halliburton Co conducted an internal investigation of its Angolan operations after an anonymous email alleged its employees breached corruption laws (Reuters).

Angola plans to pass a law that will require oil companies operating in Africa’s second-biggest oil- producing nation to use local banks to carry out their financial operations (Bloomberg).

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of the 26 story Besa building, currently under construction in Luanda (Skyscrapercity).

POLITICS

An Angolan court order for a newspaper editor to pay 10 million kwanzas ($105,000) within five days or face a year in jail is “illogical,” media- monitoring group Reporters Without Borders said (Bloomberg).

Angolan police have arrested at least five people during a protest in support of a rapper critical of the government, a friend of the artist said (News24).

INTERNATIONAL

Zambia’s new government apologised to Angola for backing the losing party in the country’s 27-year civil war as it tries to repair ties with its oil-rich neighbour. The move by Zambia’s recently elected President Michael Sata is the latest in a series of major policy shifts by the country, which ranks as Africa’s largest copper producer (Reuters).

The President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, arrived in Angola for an official 48-hour visit Thursday to boost two-way cooperation (Macauhub).

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ECONOMY

Angola’s economy is likely to grow 3.7 percent this year and accelerate rapidly to 12 percent in 2012, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said in a state of the nation address (Reuters).

The General State Budget for 2012 in Angola outlines revenues of 3.5 trillion kwanzas and expenditure of the same amount, and thus registers no budget deficit, the President of Angola, José Eduardo dos Santos said (Macauhub).

Portugal’s Banco BPI revised down its 2011 growth forecast for Angola’s economy, citing weak government spending and lower oil production. Growth in Africa’s second-biggest oil producer after Nigeria is expected to reach 2.5 percent this year, down from 6.3 percent forecast by BPI in May, the bank said (Bloomberg).

The global economic crisis is boosting the importance for Angola’s growth of closer ties with China and Brazil, as they have more dynamic economies that the United States or Europe, said Portuguese bank BPI (Macauhub).

SPLIT SECOND POLL

BANKING

Angola’s central bank delayed plans to introduce an average interbank lending rate to next month, O Pais reported, citing Fernando Joao Fonseca, vice president of Banco Keve, a commercial lender in the southern African nation (Bloomberg).

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OIL & GAS

Indian oil refiners will import the most West African crude in three months as they make up for a drop in Chinese purchases. Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), owner of the world’s biggest refining complex, will boost imports to five cargoes from one this month, including two lots of the new Angolan Pazflor crude (Bloomberg).

PORTS & LOGISTICS

The port of Barra do Dande, in Angola’s Bengo province, construction of which has been approved, will become the main port of entry and exit for goods in the country, President José Eduardo dos Santos said (Macauhub).

POLITICS

An Angolan judge handed a suspended prison term and a fine to the editor of an independent newspaper in connection with stories that alleged corruption and abuse of power by five senior officials close to President José Eduardo Dos Santos, according to news reports and local journalists (Starafrica).

A Luanda court gave William Tonet, editor of the newspaper Folha 8, five days to pay 10 million kwanzas ($106 000) in damages or spend a year in jail for a 2008-article in which he had accused three generals of the Angolan Armed Forces of self-enrichment and power abuse (News24).

Angola’s main opposition Unita, wracked by internal dissent for months, will hold a much delayed party congress in December to elect a leader, its current head Isaias Samakuva told AFP.

Angola has tripled its spending on health care since 2006, but for the vast majority of Angolans who can’t afford sparkling new private clinics — or better yet, care abroad — a trip to the hospital is still a nightmare (AFP).

SPLIT SECOND POLL

ECONOMY

The effects of the world financial crisis, which affected Angola starting in 2009, reduced the average growth rate of Angola’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from 17 percent in 2008 to 2 to 3 percent between 2009 and 2011, said Angola’s Economy Minister, Abraão Pio Gourgel (Macauhub).

Angola’s inflation rate fell to 11.9 percent in September from 13.7 percent the month before, the Luanda-based National Statistics Institute said (Reuters).

INTERNATIONAL

The African Development Bank (ADB) plans to open an office in Luanda, Angola this year, as part of a decision intended to improve and boost dialogue between the Angolan government and its development partners (Macauhub).

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BANKING

Six banks from Angola, the first of which is Banco de Fomento Angola, and two from Mozambique are included in the 2011 list of the biggest banks in Africa by capital published by the African Business magazine (Macauhub).

INFRA

Since 2002 the Angolan Roads Institute (INEA) has rebuilt 6,500 kilometres of the 25,000 kilometres of the country’s secondary and tertiary roads as part of a programme to rebuild road facilities destroyed during the civil war, the coordinator of the institute’s Management Commission announced (Macauhub).

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OIL & GAS

Total revenues from Angola’s oil exports at the end of august totalled US$24.954 billion, which represented growth of 44 percent against the US$17.334 billion seen in the same period of 2010, Angola’s Finance Ministry said (Macauhub).

SPLIT SECOND POLL

POLITICS

The ruling MPLA’s December Central Committee meeting will be closely watched after media reports suggested long-serving President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has chosen a successor and may step down before or one year after a 2012 general election (News24).

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INTERNATIONAL

Leila Lopes has told the BBC her tenure as Miss Universe 2011 will improve the world’s negative view of her country as a war-torn nation. “Until two weeks ago, not many people could locate Angola on a map,” the 25-year-old business student said (BBC).

ECONOMY

The Angolan economy is on a growth trajectory when measured by the product of the non-oil sector, which at the end of the first quarter posted growth of almost 5 percent, the governor of Angola’s central bank, José Massano said (Macauhub).

About 180 exhibitors of clothes, accessories, cosmetics and jewellery will have the opportunity to  participate in the second edition of Angola Fashion Business 2011, happening from 14 to 16 October, in Luanda International Fair (FIL) (Angop).

BANKING

South Africa’s largest retail lender, like its rivals, wants to expand into the continent’s other fast-growing markets and Absa’s chief executive Maria Ramos told Reuters in March the bank might consider a return to oil-rich Angola (Reuters).

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OIL & GAS

Japan imported 34,954 kilolitres (220,000 barrels) of Angola’s Cabinda crude in August, the first imports of the low-sulphur crude used in power generation, since September 1994 (Reuters).

SPLIT SECOND POLLS

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of the mixed use 28 floor Torre Benguela for Benguela town (Skyscrapercity).

POLITICS

Political tensions are rising in Angola, where a small but increasingly vocal group of protesters are rattling the cage of the ruling party ahead of elections planned for next year. Inspired by the downfall of North African regimes, the group of mostly young people, who have no fixed political affiliation, have been staging a series of anti-government street protests which, as in Egypt and Tunisia, have been organised via text messages and social media sites like Facebook and YouTube (BBC).

INTERNATIONAL

Paulo Almeida gave up waiting for a job at an employment office in Lisbon, crossing the city to join a longer line for a visa to Angola. “There are no decent jobs in Portugal anymore, it’s only getting worse,” the 28-year-old engineer said as he stood outside the oil-producing African country’s consulate where job- seekers sometimes camp overnight to be first in line (Bloomberg).

Angola expelled 140 foreign nationals, including 16 Lebanese, on suspicions of terrorism and money laundering, a government official said (Mail & Guardian).

ECONOMY

In 2012 the Angolan economy is expected to grow by 10.8 percent, far above the world average (4 percent) and even the average growth expected for the group of emerging and developing economies (6.1 percent), according to the latest projections from the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) (Macauhub).

The central bank of Angola, sub- Saharan Africa’s second-biggest oil producer, plans to introduce a benchmark interest rate in October, central bank Governor Jose de Lima Massano said (Bloomberg).

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BUSINESS

Trafigura, one of the world’s top oil and commodities trading houses, said it had agreed to sell a 20 percent stake in its mid and downstream unit Puma Energy International to Angola’s Sonangol Holdings (Reuters).

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MINING

Endiama EP, Angola’s state diamond company, will restart an operating unit that was closed because of debt and management problems. The country is working on reviving Endiama P&P, which was shut this year (Bloomberg).

Angola’s mining sector has been recovering from the world economic and financial crisis and is creating conditions to have a more active role in the growth of the national economy, Angola’s secretary of state for Industry, Kiala Gabriel said (Macauhub).

Phosphate reserves discovered so far in Angola’s Cabinda province total an estimated 240 million tons, the national director for mines, Kavungo Marconi said (Macauhub).

OIL & GAS

Angola’s first liquefied natural gas plant will start operations on schedule in the first quarter of next year, Radio Nacional de Angola reported on its website, citing Angola LNG director Daniel Rocha (Bloomberg).

POLITICS

The Angola regime, it would seem, has been rattled. Since March, when just 12 protesters gathered in Luanda’s Independence Square calling for “a new revolution of the Angolan people”, several more demonstrations have taken place, each a little larger than the previous one. The most recent saw several hundred young people, mainly students, take to the streets with banners declaring, “freedom or death” and “demonstrate against dictatorship” (Mail & Guardian).

Since the end of the war in 2002, Dos Santos has repeatedly delayed a promised presidential poll, hiding behind the constitutional review process, set in motion by the MPLA government after its decisive legislative victory in 2008. The question is why he would talk about succession. He has previously sidelined anyone showing rival political ambitions. A popular theory is that he plans to consolidate his political power behind the scenes as leader of the MPLA while still controlling the government through his inner circle led by a man he trusts (BusinessDay).

An Angolan court ordered the release of 27 anti-government protesters arrested on Sept. 8, said William Tonet, a lawyer for the group. “They were all absolved,” Tonet said in a telephone interview from Luanda (Bloomberg).

Angola banned public protests in the capital’s Independence Square and said they may only take place on the outskirts of Luanda (Bloomberg).

ECONOMY

Angola’s economy is poised to expand by 6.3 percent this year and is likely to be “a lot more robust” in 2012, the country’s central bank Vice-Governor Antonio Andre Lopes said (Bloomberg).

Angola’s banks must use their strong capital and liquidity positions to help fund the diversification of the oil-dependent economy by providing loans for agriculture and industry projects, several of the country’s top bankers said (Reuters).

11 places had been identified across the country to set up industrial development hubs, which he considered to be business opportunities within the framework of the law on public-private partnerships. In relation to the current state of the industrial development hubs at Viana (Luanda) and Catumbela (Benguela), the former is operating with its first factories in its special economic zone, whilst the latter (Catumbela) has sold out the area set aside for the first phase of the project. In terms of the industrial hubs at Futila (Cabinda), Lucala (Cuanza Norte), Caála (Huambo), Matala (Huíla), Cacuaco (Luanda), as well as the hub in the region of Icolo e Bengo (Bengo), these were awaiting funding for construction to begin (Macauhub).

The new law on private investment in Angola has made the process of investing in the country more demanding and prioritises projects that contribute more to the development of the Angolan economy, especially outside Luanda, according to legal specialists (Macauhub).

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BUSINESS

With the Portuguese market under pressure due to austerity measures, retailer Sonae expects to launch its operation in Angola in 2013, opening up to 5 hypermarkets in the capital Luanda in the first phase, adding that the project is awaiting approval from Angolan investment authority ANIP (Reuters).

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OIL & GAS

Angola’s state run oil firm Sonangol is offering the new Pazflor crude via a tender, traders said. The traders said Sonangol had not released any further details of the tender. The firm is expected to offer a cargo for November loading (Reuters).

Angola, Africa’s second-largest oil producer, plans to increase its daily crude oil exports to the most in 19 months, according to a preliminary loading plan obtained by Bloomberg News.

Angola’s tax laws do not give enough incentives for companies to take risks in oil exploration such as those required in the ultra-deep water blocks known as pre-salt, the head of Portuguese oil company Galp said (Reuters).

Angola’s sole oil refinery increased production 9.3 percent in the first half of this year, Jornal de Angola reported, citing Almeida Nicolau, planning director at Refinaria de Luanda (Bloomberg).

TRANSPORT

Angola canceled the first passenger train service on the repaired railway line between the port of Lobito and Huambo for “technical reasons,” Radio Nacional de Angola reported (Bloomberg).

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Partial render of the new Luanda Bay project, currently under construction in Luanda, Angola’s capital (Skyscrapercity).

POLITICS

President Jose Eduardo dos Santos’s 32-year grip on power is “very dangerous” for the country, former Prime Minister Marcolino Moco said. Angolans enjoy fewer individual liberties and human rights today than during the period of one-party rule between 1975 and 1992, Moco, a law professor at the state-run Universidade Agostinho Neto, told reporters (Bloomberg).

An Angolan court has convicted and sentenced 24 people for clashing with the police during an anti-government rally on September 3 in the capital Luanda. The police court found that the men had deliberately caused violence and disturbed public order and sentenced them to jail terms ranging from 45 days to three months each (Independent Online).

Angolan police arrested 42 people after unleashing dogs to break up a crowd of hundreds of young activists gathered outside a court in the capital Luanda, witnesses said (AFP).

INTERNATIONAL

Miss Angola Leila Lopes, a business student from the town of Benguela in her home country, was crowned Miss Universe after dazzling a panel of judges with her beauty and impressing them with her brain (Reuters).

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DEFENSE & SECURITY

A plane crash in Angola has killed 30 people, including three army generals, a military official has said. Government official Luis Caetano, a spokesman for Huambo authorities, told the BBC the military aircraft crashed after leaving Huambo city airport (BBC).

BUSINESS

South Africa’s Woolworths aims to more than double its presence on the fast-growing African continent over the next three years, an executive said, as the retailer looks to fend off new competition from Wal-Mart. Woolworths also said it intends opening stores in oil-rich countries such as Nigeria and Angola (Reuters).

Brazilian group Odebrecht is to take on the management of Angolan supermarket chain “Nosso Super” according to Angolan newspaper O País, which cited a source from the state chain (Macauhub).

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AVIATION

Dutch Airline KLM has announced another new destination to be launched this winter. KLM will begin flights to Luanda in Africa, in addition to Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Havana and Punta Cana. Passengers will be able to fly from Amsterdam to Luanda in World Business Class. The aircraft flying the route is a Boeing 777-200, offering 35 Business Class seats (Skyclub) .

MINING

Angola’s diamond sector is re-staking its place in the Angolan economy due to rises in the price of the product, said Angola’s secretary of State for Industry, Kiala Gabriel in Luanda (Macauhub).

The government of the Angolan province of Kuanda-Kubango plans to start mining at a copper mine on the outskirts of the city of Menongue at the beginning of 2012, the local director for Industry, Geology and Mines told state newspaper Jornal de Angola (Macauhub).

SPLIT SECOND POLLS

POLITICS

Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos may step down as leader of Africa’s second-biggest oil producer before or after elections next year, a spokesman for the ruling party said. Dos Santos, 69, may be replaced by Manuel Vicente, chairman of the state-owned oil company, Sonangol EP, said Rui Falcao de Andrade, a member of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola’s political bureau (Bloomberg).

A dozen protesters were arrested and several injured during an anti-government youth rally in the Angolan capital Luanda, according to media reports, with authorities saying four police officers were also injured (Reuters).

Angolan security forces attacked journalists covering an anti-government protest on Saturday in the capital, Luanda, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said, quoting news reports (Afrique en Ligne).

A British mother’s battle to win full compensation for her son killed by guerrillas in Angola is unlikely to succeed, despite a legal success. Jason Pope, 24, from Teignmouth, Devon, was working as a geologist in a diamond mine when it was raided (BBC).

INTERNATIONAL

In 2006, only 156 Angolan visas were issued to southbound Portuguese, but in 2010, the figure was 23,787. Today, there are around 3,000 Portuguese companies in Angola (BBC).

Angola and Portugal’s role reversal. An ex-colony may be getting the better, in economic terms, of its old master (The Economist).

The economic relations between Portugal and Angola are at a high and are increasingly a “two-way street,” with a greater number of exports and investments originating in Angola, said Portuguese analysts Paulo Gorjão and Pedro Seabra (Macauhub).

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AVIATION

TAAG Angola relaunched services to China’s capital Beijing (PEK) on 30 August. The airline operates the 11,775-kilometre route from Luanda (LAD) non-stop once a week with 255-seat 777-200ER aircraft (Anna).

BUSINESS

Nampak Ltd., the South African packaging company, said production from its Angolata beverage- can plant in Angola may “exceed prior predictions” (Bloomberg).

BANKING

Banco BIC Angola, the country’s fourth-biggest bank in terms of deposits, is considering expanding into neighboring countries including Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, said Chairman Fernando Teles (Bloomberg).

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INFRA

The construction of a total of 476 bridges is underway in Angola out of a total 879 bridges, Angolan news agency Angop reported citing a source form the Angolan National Roads Institute (INEA) (Macauhub).

REAL ESTATE

Major South African property groups have set their sights on Nigeria as one of the emerging markets for property investment. Oil-rich Ghana in West Africa and Angola in southern Africa are also considered hot destinations (Moneyweb).

TELECOMS

Angola’s portfolio of Telecommunication and Information Technology sector projects, due to be carried out by 2012, is expected to cost US$800 million, the Telecommunications minister, José Carvalho da Rocha said (Macauhub).

Angolan technical specialists are going to take part in the management and maintenance of Angolan satellite AngoSat, which is due to be put into orbit in 2012, Angola’s Minister for Telecommunications and Information Technology also said (Macauhub).

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of the 22 floor Epic Sana Luanda Hotel for Luanda, to be opened in the 4th quarter of this year (Source).

ECONOMY

Economic growth in Angola, sub- Saharan Africa’s second-biggest oil producer, will probably accelerate to 8% next year due to higher oil prices and greater spending, World Bank economist Ricardo Gazel says (BusinessDay).

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DEFENSE & SECURITY

Angolan police have collected 85,000 weapons from civilians as part of a disarmament plan that began in 2009, Radio Nacional de Angola reported, citing Paulo de Almeida, the deputy commander of the police public order unit (Bloomberg).

AVIATION

After being closed for four months for refurbishment and modernisation work, Albano Machado airport in Angola’s Huambo province, is starting to receive aircraft (Macauhub).

The Portuguese government has kept airline TAP – Air Portugal on its list of privatisations to be carried out despite the company posting increased losses in the first half of the year. TAP’s 10 routes to Brazil, with a total of 75 flights per week, are the main attraction for airlines such as Angola’s Taag (Macauhub).

BANKING

In the first half, Standard Bank had negative returns in local currency terms of 28 percent in Angola, where it invested for the first time and plans five branches by year end (Bloomberg).

SPLIT SECOND POLL

INFRA

After a stoppage of 27 years the Benguela Railroad (CFB), which has been refurbished and modernised, between the port fo Lobito and the Planalto Central (Central Plateau) and with capacity to carry over 4 million passengers per year and 20 million tons of cargo, was inaugurated by Angola’s President José Eduardo dos Santos (Macauhub).

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MINING

Trans Hex Group Ltd., Africa’s biggest publicly traded diamond producer, said it plans to exit the Fucauma and Luarica projects in Angola as talks over funding new exploration at the sites failed to reached an agreement (Bloomberg).

OIL & GAS

Sonangol Pesquisa e Producao SA, the research and exploration unit of Angolan state-oil company Sonangol SA, will boost production in coming years (Bloomberg).

All Angolan crude oil cargoes for loading in October have been sold, said three traders who participate in the market. About 40 percent will be shipped to China (Bloomberg).

REAL ESTATE

Brazilian company Odebrecht has so far invested almost US$1 billion in the real estate, housing and offices sector in Angola the company’s director, Félix Martins said (Macauhub).

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of the Torre Kilomba office tower, currently under construction on the bay of Luanda (source).

POLITICS

Embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has been offered asylum by Angola, the SABC reported (News24).

Angolan authorities have barred activists from entering the country ahead of a regional summit taking place there next week. An alliance of civil society groups known as the Regional Apex organisation said that Angolan authorities had denied them entry upon arrival at Luanda Airport (News24).

Southern African leaders holding a two day regional summit in the Angolan capital Luanda wrapped up their talks ahead of schedule Thursday, South Africa’s foreign minister said. The bloc is under pressure to show its commitment to democracy in the region at the summit in Luanda, but Wednesday’s opening ceremony made no direct references to the spreading political turmoil (Mail & Guardian).

ECONOMY

Angola’s foreign exchange reserves rose to $22.6 billion in June from $21.5 billion in May, the central bank said (Reuters).

Reducing the weight of the dollar on the economy and increasing the use of Angola’s currency, the kwanza, has become one of the main aims of the National Bank of Angola, said the Economist Intelligence Unit (Macauhub).

Economic growth in Angola, sub- Saharan African second-biggest oil producer, will probably accelerate to 8 percent next year due to higher oil prices and increased spending, World Bank economist Ricardo Gazel said (Bloomberg).

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AVIATION

The Angolan Ministry of Transports aims to have three international airports functioning by 2012, the ministry’s infrastructure director said. Improvement work at the current Luanda Airport is nearing completion and work to upgrade the Catumbela and Bengo airports should finish next year (Macauhub).

INFRA

The project to interconnect the three railways from Angola to Namibia, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo may be completed in 2014 (Macauhub).

TOURISM

Five countries from Southern Africa, including Angola, signed an agreement in Luanda to create a vast natural park in the basins of the Okavango and Zambezi rivers covering an area of 278,000 square kilometres. The tourist and conservation park covers parts of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe and links 14 national parks and natural reserves, including Victoria Falls and the Okavango delta (Macauhub).

ECONOMY

Angola’s foreign-exchange reserves increased 5.1 percent in July from a month earlier, a central bank preliminary document obtained by Bloomberg News today showed.

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SPLIT SECOND POLL

OLD WORLD

Angolans are among those buying stakes in troubled Portuguese companies. Banco Portugues de Negocios, nationalized in 2008 over allegations of fraud, was sold in principal and as required by the bailout to Banco BIC Portugues (owned by the same shareholders as Angola’s Banco BIC) for 40m – total cost to Portuguese taxpayers 2.4bn. A number of banks (BIC, Banco do Brasil, Barclays, BBVA and Santander) are believed to be looking at buying a stake (possible a majority stake) in Banif, Portugal’s smallest listed banking group.On the privatization front, British Airways/Iberia have stated their intention to bid for national flag carrier TAP; while there’s a lot of interest in other sales including stakes in power utility Energias de Portugal and national grid operator Redes Energeticas Nacionais (Reuters).

AGRI

Angola plans to move ahead with a new agricultural development strategy, making use of its oil exploration resources, amongst others, to increase the contribution of the primary sector in the creation of wealth and employment in the country, according to the Africa Monitor newsletter (Macauhub).

INFRA

Angola is this year due to receive rolling stock for the country’s railways ordered from China, Angola’s transport minister Augusto Tomás said in Benguela (Macauhub).

SPLIT SECOND POLL

OIL & GAS

Angola is scheduled in October to export the first cargo of oil from Total’s Pazflor field, one of several new projects expected to counter a decline in supplies from Africa’s second-largest producer (Reuters).

Esso Angola plans to produce an additional 100,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) at Block 15, which currently produces over 500,000bpd, by putting 18 new oil fields into operation in the second quarter of 2012 (Macauhub).

Some international observers have concluded that the Queensway syndicate is a front for the Chinese government. The argument goes that Sam Pa and his partners help China to purchase much-prized resources while keeping official hands clean. Yet it would be wrong to assume that the syndicate is controlled from Beijing (The Economist).

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of the Edificio Fenix residential and commercial tower, currently under construction in Luanda (Skyscrapercity).

ECONOMY

Angola cut the minimum deposit required to open a bank account to 100 kwanza from 20,000 to boost savings and draw funds out of the informal economy, central bank Governor Jose de Lima Massano said (Bloomberg).

The representative in Angola of the African Development Bank (ADB), Septime Martin said that the bank had around US$400 million to fund infrastructure projects and promote the private sector in Angola (Macauhub).

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SPLIT SECOND POLLS

AGRI

Eighteen agricultural projects, costing some US$800 million, are being carried out by Angolan agricultural company Empresa de Terras Aráveis (Gesterra) in the Angolan provinces of Malanje, Kuando Kubango, Benguela, Bié, Zaire, Cunene, Uíge and Moxico, the chairman of the company said (Macauhub).

BANKING & FINANCE

Angola’s insurance sector presents positive growth and market diversification trends for the coming years, the head of the Empresa Nacional de Seguros de Angola (ENSA) said (Macauhub).

Angolan bank, Banco de Poupança e Crédito (BPC) at the end of last year had net assets of US$2.1 billion, according to figures from the summary report on the bank’s activities for 2010 (Macauhub).

OIL & GAS

Exxon Mobil Corp. ’s Angolan operating unit is ceasing production at its Xikomba oil field as the deposit’s life cycle of about seven years is “ending now,” said Fernando Pegado, a company spokesman (Bloomberg).