Angola maintains rate, inflation continues to ease

    Angola's central bank maintained its key policy rate at 9.25 percent, citing a 0.62 percent decline in May inflation to an annual rate of 6.95 percent, below 7.22 percent in April and 9.0 percent in May 2013.
    The National Bank of Angola (BNA) has kept its benchmark BNA rate steady since November 2013 but last month it raised the rate on its liquidity absorption facility by a further 25 basis points to 1.75 percent following a similar increase in April.
    In April the BNA also cut the rate on its standing lending liquidity facility by 25 basis points to 10.0 percent.
    The BNA also said the LUIBOR overnight rate stood at 2.96 percent, down from 3.10 percent on May 26, while credit to the economy rose by 1.22 percent in May to 3.12 billion kwanza for an annual increase of 14.71 percent.
    From January to May, commercial banks acquired currency in the foreign exchange market of US$ 12.619 billion, an increase of 25.7 percent from the same 2013 period, the bank said.
    The average exchange rate of the kwanza in May was stable at 97.66 to the U.S. dollar compared with 97.88 in April.
    Angola's economy expanded by 7.4 percent in 2013, up from 5.2 percent in 2012, and the government has targeted growth this year of 5-7 percent.

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