Angola maintains rate as inflation rises further

    Angola's central bank maintained its benchmark Basic Interest Rate (BNA) at 9.25 percent, citing an increase in inflation, a depreciation of the kwanza's exchange rate and an annual increase of 13.2 percent in the stock of credit to the economy.
    The National Bank of Angola, which raised its rate by 25 basis points on March 30, noted that inflation, as measured by the CPI of the capital of Luanda, was up by an annual 7.87 percent in March, up 0.13 percentage points from February, with food and non-alcoholic beverages the largest contributor to the increase.
    Meanwhile, the stock of credit issued by banks reached 3.41 billion kwanza in March.
    The exchange rate of the kwanza, which has been hit by the fall oil prices and the impact on government revenue, depreciated by an average 1.62 percent in March from the previous month to 108.26 per U.S. dollar, the central bank said.
    The kwanza has been depreciating since September 2014 and was trading at 109.19 to the dollar today, down 6.2 percent since the start of the year.

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