Angola to join G20 initiative to suspend debt payments

Angola will join the Group of 20 (G20) Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), which allows the country to direct funds to combat the impact of COVID-19, the country’s finance ministry said Tuesday.

Following consultations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the ministry said in a statement that it has decided to use the G20’s DSSI to negotiate with its sovereign peers the suspension of the debt in bilateral loans.

The DSSI will be able to ease financial pressure and allow the liberalization of funds to combat the impact of COVID-19 in Angola in the coming months, according to the statement.

Without disclosing any figures, the ministry said the renegotiation of the debt focuses on the amounts owed to bilateral creditors included in the agreement proposed by the G20, which excludes private creditors.

“Following the already announced public administration reforms and budgetary adjustments, the ministry of finance is currently at an advanced stage of negotiations with some of its oil importing partners to reprogram the financing facilities to better reflect the current market environment and the production quotas of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries,” the ministry said.

Thanks to the above measures, and in cooperation with the IMF as well as its multilateral partners, the ministry believes that it is on the right track to guaranteeing the emergency aid needed for the country in 2020 and Angola’s long-term macro-financial stability.