U.S treasury department sends consultant to Angola on bond issue

LUANDA, Dec. 15 (Xinhua/GNA) -- The Angolan and U.S. governments on Monday signed an agreement to establish a resident consultant from the U.S. treasury department in Luanda to help the African country to improve its bond-issuing and debt management systems.

The accord was signed by Angolan Finance minister Severim de Morais and U.S. ambassador to Angola Dan Moen in the presence of government officials from both countries.

In Angola, the U.S. expert will work with the ministry of finance and with the Angolan Reserve Bank (BNA), the official Angop news agency said.

The resident consultant will be based on the experience of the U.S. financial sector and international market, and the technical support would enable Angola to define and implement debt management that the government considers to be most suitable.

Earlier in November, the Angolan government approved the issue of treasury bonds valued at some four billion U.S. Dollars into international markets to shore up local food and beverages industries.

The bonds will be issued in two batches of two billion dollars each between December 2009 and June 2010.

The move, the first of its kind in recent memory in this oil- rich African country, was apparently aimed at absorbing more money from the international markets to patch up for its national foreign reserves, which had been badly affected by the fluctuating and often-falling oil prices.

GNA