Angola holds key rate, raises absorption rate 25 bps

     Angola's central bank maintained its key policy rate but raised the rate on its liquidity absorption facility by a further 25 basis points to 1.75 percent.
    The National Bank of Angola (BNA) has kept it benchmark BNA rate steady at 9.25 percent since November 2013 but on April 1 raised the rate on its absorption facility by 25 basis points to 1.50 percent and cut the rate on its standing lending liquidity facility by 25 basis points to 10.0 percent.
    Angola's inflation rate eased further to 7.22 percent in April from 7.32 percent in March, the 11th consecutive month with falling consumer prices.
    In its statement, the BNA also said credit to the economy had risen by 2.25 percent in April while the LUIBOR overnight rate was 3.10 percent.
    Commercial banks acquired currency worth US$ 2.076 billion in the foreign exchange market in April, with the total sales volume in the first four months of the year rising to $9.888 billion from $5.445 billion in the same 2013 period.
    The average exchange rate of the kwanza currency in April was steady at 97.88 per dollar.
    Last month the BNA's governor, Jose de Lima Massano, told Bloomberg in an interview that there was room to cut interest rates to spur investment as inflation eases and the bank has reached its 2014 inflation target of 7.0 to 9.0 percent.

    Angola's government has targeted economic growth this year of 5 to 7 percent. In 2013 the economy expanded by 7.4 percent in 2013, up from 5.2 percent in 2012.

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