Country Information - Angola

ECONOMIC BACKGROUND Angola has been an economy in disarray due to a quarter century of nearly continuous warfare. An apparently durable peace was established after the death of rebel leader Jonas Savimbi on February 22, 2002, but consequences from the conflict continue including the impact of wide-spread land mines. Subsistence agriculture provides the main livelihood for 85% of the population, with industry and service contributing a 15% share. Oil production and the supporting activities are vital to the economy, contributing about 45% to GDP and more than half of exports. Other economic activities include mining (diamonds, iron ore, phosphates, feldspar etc.), food processing, brewing and a number of agricultural activities (tobacco, sugar, forest products, fish, cotton etc.). Much of the country's food must however still be imported. To fully take advantage of its rich natural resources - gold, diamonds, extensive forests, Atlantic fisheries, and large oil deposits (production: 740,000bbl/day est. in 2002) - Angola will need to continue reforming government policies. While Angola made progress in bringing inflation down further, from 325% in 2000 to about 106% in 2002, the government has not made sufficient progress on reforms recommended by the IMF such as increasing foreign exchange reserves and promoting greater transparency in government spending. Increased oil production should bring about 6% GDP growth in 2003. (Source: World Factbook, 2004) Click here for Country Map [23kB]

BI-LATERAL TRADE OVERVIEW To Angola, the United States is its most important export partner, accounting for over 40% of total exports in 2002. The trade data (see graph) illustrates that bi-lateral trade between Angola and the US is largely one-way, with exports to the US exceeding imports from the US almost 10-fold in 2002. Angola is the third-largest source of imports to the US of all AGOA-eligible Sub-Saharan African countries, after Nigeria and South Africa. However, these imports are concentrated in the energy-related sectors, since Angola is an important producer of oil. In fact, during 2002 energy-related goods shipped to the US from Angola accounted for 99% of Angola’s total exports to that country. In terms of imports, Angola sources mainly transportation equipment from the US, followed by agricultural products and a host of manufactured goods. The country’s trade surplus with the US has been hovering in the region of US$ 3bn over the past few years. Detailed bilateral trade data for this country, disaggregated by industry sector, can be accessed by following the link below. Aggregate data featuring all AGOA-eligible countries is updated on this website as soon as new data is published, including ranked AGOA / non-AGOA trade, aggregate trade by industry sector as well as the latest apparel trade data. Click here for Detailed Trade Profile