Angola | Parliament approves revised 2015 budget

The Angolan parliament Wednesday approved, in general terms, the bill to revise the State Budget (OGE 2015), which includes estimated revenues of 5.4 trillion kwanza, compared to 7.2 trillion in the original budget, Angolan news agency Angop reported.
The document now being analyzed in more detail was based on an oil price of USD40 per barrel compared to US$81 in the previously approved version of the budget.
This correction is intended to adjust fiscal policy to the new international economic and financial reality, and the revised state budget includes a reduction in tax revenue of 35.75 percent, or 1.492 trillion kwanzas.
The proposed review includes a budget deficit of 6.2 percent, a basic interest rate in the range of 7 to 9 percent, and a negative current account balance equivalent to 19 percent of gross domestic product (GDP)t, which this year is expected grow by only 6.6 percent against an original forecast of 9.7 percent.
Annual oil production is expected to be 669.8 million barrels, inflation is projected at 9 percent, the growth rate of the M2 monetary aggregate of 14.8 percent and the net international reserves are expected to total US$19.2 billion.
The text that has been approved in general also includes moderate real growth prospects for the agricultural sector down from 12.3 percent in the initial state budget to 7.9 percent and more moderate real growth for the manufacturing industry, expected to grow at a rate of 6.8 percent, 4.4 percentage points less than previously projected.
There is also a downward review of construction sector growth to 6 percent, compared to an initial estimate of 10.5 percent, as well as a change from 9 percent to 4 percent in the forecast for services sector growth. MDT/Macauhub