Luanda - Angola's national currency, the Kwanza, has been the one that has appreciated the most against the US dollar since the beginning of 2022, reaching 20%, as result of the rise in oil prices.
This assessment is contained in a publication on the portal of the financial information agency Bloomberg.
"The Kwanza rallied against the Dollar in a list where the Russian Ruble is in last position, losing 37%, following the sanctions against Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine", quotes the website.
The valuation of the Kwanza, according to the source, is also combined with the improvements reported by international credit rating agencies and the likelihood that the National Bank of Angola (BNA) will continue to raise interest rates.
Bloomberg also mentions that the price of oil, despite the slowdown in recent days in price increases, has almost doubled in value in 2021, reaching USD139 this month.
This represents a 28% appreciation since the start of the year, even if the barrel of oil would be sold until Tuesday around 100 dollars.
Angola's exports account for more than 90% of the country's export earnings, and the Angolan economy is expected to grow by 2.9% this year, after five years of economic recession, according to a forecast by analyst Zahabia Gupta published on February 18.
In July last year, the National Bank of Angola raised its benchmark interest rate to a record high of 20% and 15.5%, to contain inflation.
In recent weeks, Angola has seen the credit opinion improve by the main rating agencies, after the end of the financial adjustment programme of 4.5 billion dollars with the International Monetary Fund last December.
The Kwanza is also recovering from a sharp decline in 2019 after the central bank began allowing the currency to trade more freely against the dollar.
