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Angola Finances
Banking was a monopoly of the state-run BNA, which
controlled
currency, loans, and foreign debts for the private and
state
sectors. Reflecting the general liberalization of state
economic
policies adopted in 1986, the BNA has provided credit for
foreign
investors and has tried to encourage foreign banks to
establish
operations inside Angola. The BNA handled all government
financial
transactions and played an important role in setting
fiscal policy,
especially regarding permissible foreign loans and the
establishment of annual ceilings on imports. The bank has
been
notably unsuccessful, however, in halting the decline of
the
kwanza, which in late 1988 traded on the parallel market
for up to
about 2,100 per United States dollar--barely
one-seventieth of its
theoretical value. In fact, because the local economy was
based
more on barter than on monetary exchange, the BNA's
primary impact
has been in the area of foreign loans, which have become
increasingly important to the economy.
Data as of February 1989
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