The Bank Group’s last Country Strategy Paper (CSP)for Angola was for the period 2005-2008. To ensure continuity in the Bank Group operations, the Angola Country Team has recommended that the Bank’s 2005-2007 current CSP be updated until a full CSP can be prepared in 2009.

Angola is a peaceful country today. The government's core priorities include poverty reduction (68 per cent of the population lives in poverty), sustainable economic growth and strengthening of governance through improved transparency and efficiency in oil revenue management, and
enhanced decentralization at  the provincial level.

Angola has seen rapid economic growth over the past few years, driven by high oil prices and increases in oil and diamond production and exports. High revenues from the oil and other extractive industries have resulted in important surpluses in both fiscal and external accounts. The Government has shown strong commitment to pursuing economic and structural reforms to enable private sector development while moving from oil to a non-oil driven economy. Direct spill-over effects from the oil sector to the rest of the economy have, however, been limited.

Prudent macroeconomic policies have yielded good results over recent years and  Angola was considered in 2007 as one of the fastest growing economies in Africa. These policies are expected to be pursued by the Government in order to reach the convergence indicators set by SADC countries. Inflation fell in 2007 to about 12 per cent, while targets for 2008 and 2009-2010 are 10 per cent and 6-8, respectively. Angola’s external current account position remained  solid. The external current account surplus widened to 23 percent of GDP in 2006 and official reserves doubled to USD 8.6 billion (about seven months of imports of non-oil goods and services).

The Agricultural sector has good potential due to abundant and relatively good-quality land. With the gradual rehabilitation of rural infrastructure completely destroyed by the war, and the return of displaced people, the sector is recovering. In 2007, US$ 91.3 million was invested in agriculture, of
which US$ 80 million was provided by the Government. Agriculture has become a priority sector for public investment and the country’s largest employer with 4.8 million people representing 89 per cent of all jobs. The sector thus has a key role to play in poverty reduction. 

Bank Group Strategy

As stated above, the African Development Bank Group’s current strategy for Angola is a transitional one and is based on two main pillars:

• Reduction of poverty through improved social service delivery and increased access to means of production
• Creation of a conducive environment for private sector development

Bank projects in these two areas will be identified on the basis of intensive dialogue with Government and appropriate sector ministries as well as other development partners engaged in similar work.