Angola does not need to devalue its currency at the moment but will work on measures to lessen the gap between the formal and informal exchange rates, central bank governor Valter Filipe da Silva told Reuters. Angola's economy has been suffering from the drop in crude prices and an acute hard currency crunch, fuelling a thriving black market for the currency of Africa's second largest oil exporter after Nigeria.
The bank currently quotes the kwanza at around 165 per dollar, although the currency typically trades at much weaker levels in the black market. The kwanza devalued by more than 30 percent last year and in January was allowed another 15 percent weakening to 155 after which it has slipped gradually lower. Speaking to the sidelines of a meeting at think-tank Chatham House on Thursday, da Silva said policymakers had needed to focus first on stabilising hard-currency availability for food, medicine and raw material imports, then on managing the monetary base but also on synchronising fiscal and monetary policy.
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