Angola has suspended plans to sell bonds to foreign investors until it concludes a budget review in July that will determine the nation's financing needs, a senior official at Angola's Economy Ministry said on Thursday, according to Reuters. Angola said in November it aimed to sell $4 billion in bonds to international investors this year. It also said on May 4 it would issue $2 billion in local debt. But Carlos Panzo, director of the macro-economic department at the Economy Ministry, said all debt sales were on hold until the budget was approved in July. "We expect the budget review to be concluded in July. Only then will the government be able to determine the nation's financing needs," Panzo told Reuters in an interview. "We have a range of options on the table regarding how we will finance our budget." Global rating agencies gave oil-producing Angola a debut "B+" sovereign credit rating last week, the same as Nigeria, paving the way for sub-Saharan Africa's third biggest economy to access international debt markets. Angola first announced in November it had hired JP Morgan to advise it on the $4 billion bond sale following a slump in oil prices in 2008 and early 2009. The government, which has said it owes over $2 billion in arrears to construction firms rebuilding the nation after a civil war that ended in 2002, also turned to the International Monetary Fund last year for a $1.4 billion loan. But a rebound in oil prices -- more than doubling in the last 12 months -- has eased the need to issue debt, said Panzo. Oil accounts for over half of GDP, 80 percent of government revenues and 90 percent of export income. The government expects the economy to grow 8.6 percent this year, up from 2.7 percent last year. "Higher oil prices have been positive for Angola," he said. "We don't know how much we need in terms of financing. Neither do we know what the tendency in the (debt) markets will be in a few months." The government plans to increase spending in the unrevised 2010 budget by 19 percent to 3.09 trillion kwanzas ($36 billion) from the previous year. The budget is based on an oil price of $58 per barrel. A third of the budget is aimed at improving the lives of ordinary Angolans.
