Angola weighs rival China, European financing bids to transform economy
Angola seeks help to reduce reliance on oil
Considering bids from China, EU including green tech
Beijing must find buyers for it EV and solar panels stocks
Luanda looking for more investment, fewer loans
By Joe Cash
BEIJING, Sept 3 (Reuters) -China needs to step up its financing for Angola if the African nation is to absorb more Chinese-made goods from solar panels to electric cars, Angola's finance minister said on Tuesday, as the former OPEC member considers vying bids from Beijing and Europe.
China approved loans worth $4.61 billion to Africa last year, the first annual increase since peaking at $28.4 billion in 2016, when 68% of lending went to Angola alone, even as it began to turn off the cash spigot and move away from big-ticket infrastructure projects as resource-rich Africa struggles with a growing debt crisis and grasps for quicker financing solutions.
Since quitting the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in December, Angola has been looking for ways to firm up its finances and food security, grow its fisheries sector and attract more job-creating investment inland, Vera Daves De Sousa said in an interview with Reuters ahead of a major China-Africa summit in Beijing.
The littoral state has plentiful reserves of base metals and ample agricultural resources such as sugar cane, coffee, cotton and livestock, but they have been neglected compared with oil, which accounts for 95% of its exports.
China has expressed willingness to help Angola modernise its agricultural sector, grow its industries and diversify its economy in exchange for imports of more Chinese goods, but faces competition from the West.
"This is a tough discussion, because in our case, this comes together with the financing solution," Daves de Sousa said.
"If Angola's fiscal revenues were strong enough to allow us to choose based on the criteria of quality and price, we would have a totally different discussion."
SOLAR PANEL COMPETITION
Beijing's pitch would not only need to include further financing to help Luanda bring down high inflation and grow jobs in the short term, but also ensure it had robust industries it could depend on into the future, Daves De Sousa added.
Otherwise, China could lose out to competition from Europe, who Daves De Sousa said required Angola to buy its wares but had been funnelling fresh financing more readily in exchange.
"We will buy more solar panels from Europe because the financing is coming from there."
The U.S. and Europe maintain the $19 trillion Chinese economy has overcapacity in EVs and solar panels.
With Western curbs on Chinese exports looming, finding buyers for those goods is top of the agenda for Beijing as it plays host to the ninth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit this week.
China, the world's biggest bilateral lender, has already started tweaking conditions for its loans to the continent, setting aside more for solar farms and EV plants, while cutting back on big-ticket infrastructure.
Luanda is not looking for more loans, Daves De Sousa said, instead preferring to "find a new paradigm where we do more based on private-sector engagement and through public-private partnerships".
"We need to think outside the box, because the plain vanilla solutions of 'you give me money, I'll give you collateral' is done."
Angola’s heavy reliance on China https://reut.rs/3X9nXrk
Reporting by Joe Cash; Graphics by Sumanta Sen; Editing by Alex Richardson
Senaste nytt
Ansvarsfriskrivning: XM Group-enheter tillhandahåller sin tjänst enbart för exekvering och tillgången till vår onlinehandelsplattform, som innebär att en person kan se och/eller använda tillgängligt innehåll på eller via webbplatsen, påverkar eller utökar inte detta, vilket inte heller varit avsikten. Denna tillgång och användning omfattas alltid av i) villkor, ii) riskvarningar och iii) fullständig ansvarsfriskrivning. Detta innehåll tillhandahålls därför uteslutande som allmän information. Var framför allt medveten om att innehållet på vår onlinehandelsplattform varken utgör en uppmaning eller ett erbjudande om att ingå några transaktioner på de finansiella marknaderna. Handel på alla finansiella marknader involverar en betydande risk för ditt kapital.
Allt material som publiceras på denna sida är enbart avsett för utbildnings- eller informationssyften och innehåller inte – och ska inte heller anses innehålla – rådgivning och rekommendationer om finansiella frågor, investeringsskatt eller handel, dokumentation av våra handelskurser eller ett erbjudande om, eller en uppmaning till, en transaktion i finansiella instrument eller oönskade finansiella erbjudanden som är riktade till dig.
Tredjepartsinnehåll, liksom innehåll framtaget av XM såsom synpunkter, nyheter, forskningsrön, analyser, kurser, andra uppgifter eller länkar till tredjepartssajter som återfinns på denna webbplats, tillhandahålls i befintligt skick, som allmän marknadskommentar, och utgör ingen investeringsrådgivning. I den mån som något innehåll tolkas som investeringsforskning måste det noteras och accepteras att innehållet varken har varit avsett som oberoende investeringsforskning eller har utarbetats i enlighet med de rättsliga kraven för att främja ett sådant syfte, och därför är att betrakta som marknadskommunikation enligt tillämpliga lagar och föreskrifter. Se till så att du har läst och förstått vårt meddelande om icke-oberoende investeringsforskning och riskvarning om ovannämnda information, som finns här.
