Brazil has offered Angola a new credit line worth US$ 2bn for use in its energy and construction sectors, Angolan Finance Minister Armando Manuel said an hour ago. Several Brazilian companies are involved in energy and construction in Angola, Africa’s number two oil producer, although China is the main foreign partner and buys nearly half of Angola’s oil.
Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, on a state visit to Brazil, was due to meet Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff later on Monday to discuss moves to strengthen a strategic partnership between the two Portuguese-speaking countries that began in 2010. Angola is spending billions to rebuild transport, energy and communication networks destroyed by a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002. This would be the sixth credit line extended by Brazil.
“The new line raises the total to US$ 7.83bn, which makes it clear that there is a growing link between the two countries,” Manuel said in comments broadcast by Angola state TV network TPA. China has given an estimated US $13.4bn in so-called ‘oil-for-infrastructure’ loans to Angola. As a result, Chinese construction companies are heavily involved in the reconstruction projects. Still, Brazil’s Odebrecht, Latin America’s biggest diversified construction conglomerate, which is engaged in the construction and agri-business sectors, is Angola’s biggest private employer.
The United States also has a strategic partnership with Angola, which the two parties are trying to strengthen. The US run Export-Import Bank this month financed a deal for Angola to buy US $1bn of railway and energy equipment from General Electric.