Category: Economy

Angola’s proposed 2027 budget deserves one compliment before the questions begin. The Finance Ministry has made its documentation available online with commendable transparency and technical clarity. Readers can examine the government’s assumptions. Whether those assumptions describe the country they live in is another matter. The first difficulty concerns political power. Parliamentary approval will leave the president with considerable discretion to reshape the budget throughout the year. Under Articles 4 through 6 of the proposed law, he may move funds between budget lines, adjust allocations, supplement spending with additional revenue and replace projects making little progress with others he considers strategic. He may also borrow at home and abroad, issue public debt, renegotiate existing obligations and refinance them. Such extensive powers allow him to redefine spending priorities after legislators have approved them. The budget becomes a broad statement of intentions, subject to presidential revision. Parliamentary authorization offers less certainty than the […]

Carrinho has controlled Banco de Comércio e Indústria since December 2021. In August 2024, the competition authority cleared its takeover of Banco Keve, subject to central bank approval. It has also acquired 7.61 per cent of BFA through its subsidiary Congolian Financial. If consolidated, these interests could give the group influence over roughly 30 per cent of Angola’s banking market. This expansion comes as Angola faces heightened international scrutiny. The Financial Action Task Force placed it on its grey list in October 2024, citing strategic weaknesses in its defences against money laundering and terrorist financing. The European Union added Angola to its list of high-risk third countries in 2025, requiring European financial institutions to apply enhanced checks to relevant transactions. Such scrutiny exposes the gap between the government’s rhetoric and the credibility of its financial institutions. The Carrinho transaction brings two systemic risks into sharp focus. The first is the […]

The public sale of shares in Unitel, Angola’s largest telecommunications company, and the operator’s admission to trading on the country’s stock exchange mark an important stage in a privatisation programme that has so far offered investors few marquee assets. Unitel is a rare exception. On that basis alone, the transaction deserves support. Yet the deal comes with a legal complication that should not be relegated to the small print. Half of Unitel was transferred to the state by presidential decree in 2022, and the former owners continue to challenge that decision in court. If they ultimately prevail, the consequences could extend beyond the state and raise questions about the title acquired by new private investors. Unitel’s prospectus says the offering is intended to make shares available to Angolan and foreign investors, with a separate allocation for employees under the country’s privatisation law. The offer covers 15 per cent of Unitel’s […]