Angola’s Minister of Economy and Planning says Relations with the IMF and World Bank Will Sustain Reform Path

With the world economy in the doldrums and renewed questions over the heavy debt burden facing emerging markets in the post-Covid-19 era, the IMF and World Bank Spring meetings felt like a chance for policymakers to catch their breath and plot a way forward. For Mário Augusto Caetano João, Angola’s minister of economy and planning, the trip was certainly that – but also a chance to seal Angola’s maturing ties with multilateral lenders. Speaking to African Business during a busy round of engagements in DC, where he previously worked for three years as a World Bank advisor, João says that Angola’s shift from a state-planned economy under the presidency of João Lourenço has brought the country into much closer cooperation with the multilaterals. “We were a centrally planned economy and we’re now making sure that the private sector is at the centre of the economy. It’s a dramatic change, but we are ready for that.”

AFRICAN BUSINESS