Angola’s Economic Coordination Minister, Manuel Nunes Junior has announced that the country has started selling the state-run Banco de Comercio e Industria to test investors appetite for some of the country’s biggest companies including oil giant Sonangol.
Angola’s biggest-ever privatization program has so far resulted in the sale of 39 companies out of a total 195 assets earmarked for disposal by the end of 2022. The sale of the nation’s 13th-largest bank by assets is part of a push by Africa’s second-biggest oil producer to raise cash and jump-start a moribund economy.
Nunes Junior said : “This is the first privatization in the financial sector and its outcome will be very important to understand all those that follow,” . According to him, Potential candidates to buy BCI will be selected this month to take part in a tender to buy 100% of its shares in one single block through the Luanda stock market,
Angola’s economy has been going through recession for the past five years. This policy is seen a means to revive the economy and cause an increase in growth to help draw investors
The Gross Domestic product is also expected to expand at 1% this year on the back of higher oil prices and rising output from the non-oil sector
Nunes noted that President Joao Lourenco’s fight against corruption has led to a “new paradigm” that’s improving Angola’s image with investors. According to him, the changes that have been instigated will help build a real democratic state and a market-based economy that is able to diversify away from oil
