Luanda - The Monetary Policy Committee (CPM) of the National Bank of Angola decided on Friday, in Luanda, to increase the central bank rate from 19% to 19.5%, with a view to strengthening control over currency circulation in the national economy.
In addition to this rate, the CPM decided to increase the coefficient of mandatory reserves, in national currency, from 20% to 21%, as well as maintain the interest rate on the Permanent Liquidity Absorption Facility at 18.5%.
According to the governor of the BNA, Manuel Tiago Dias, these decisions were motivated by the persistence of inflationary pressures in the economy and aim to contribute to the control of liquidity in circulation.
In a press conference, as part of the 117th meeting of the CPM, held on the 16th and 17th of this month, in Luanda, the Central Bank manager said that, in the monetary domain, the Monetary Base in national currency (M1) contracted 1.24%, last April, having contributed to reducing the accumulated expansion, since the beginning of the year, from 7.22% in March, to 5.89%.
In turn, he continued, the monetary aggregate M2, in national currency, expanded 3.99% in April and 4.48% since the beginning of the year.
Still during this period, he said that the stock of credit to the economy, in national currency, reached 4.72 billion kwanzas, representing an increase of 150,84 billion Kwanzas in accumulated terms for the year.
Surplus balance of the goods account set at USD 4.28 billion
In the external sector, the accumulated surplus balance of the goods account, in the months of March and April 2024, stood at 4.28 billion US dollars, standing above the USD 3.33 billion recorded in the two previous months, which represents an increase of 28.34%.
In accumulated terms, the balance of the goods account reached 7.61 billion dollars, a value above the 6.39 billion in the same period last year, corresponding to an increase of 19.04%.
According to the governor, the performance of the goods account was essentially influenced by the increase in export revenues by 3.69% (1.21 billion dollars), year-on-year, as a result of the increase in the price of raw materials. Angolan quantities by 5.31% and exported quantities by 6.59%.
On the other hand, the value of imports reduced by 15.80%, having gone from 5.03 billion dollars in the same period of 2023 to 4.24 billion.
International Reserves stood at 14.48 billion dollars in April, which corresponds to a degree of coverage of 7.43 months of imports of goods and services.
The next CPM meeting will be held on the 18th and 19th of July 2024, in the city of Menongue, province of Cuando Cubango. QCB/DOJ
