Africa Oil & Gas: Drop in oil price may force a review of Angola’s 2019 State Budget

Angola’s draft State Budget for 2019, already approved generally by the country’s parliament, may have to be be reviewed, admitted the chair of the parliamentary committee on Economy and Finance.

Ruth Mendes, member for the ruling MPLA party, said that the review could still occur during the budget’s detailed approval process, due to the volatility of the price of oil that recently recorded a significant drop, Angolan newspaper Novo Jornal reported.

The State Budget was drawn up on the basis of an average price per barrel of US$68, but after the document was submitted to parliament the price of each barrel went down from US$80 to US$60.

Oil is responsible for about 95% of Angolan exports and is a key element of the country’s tax collection. Mendes said the issue is still under discussion and “needs further discussion between the government and Parliament.”

The state budget bill submitted to parliament outlines expenditure of 11.3 billion kwanzas, an increase of 16.6% over the 9.685 billion kwanzas recorded in the Budget for this year.

Meanwhile, two plenary sessions have been scheduled for 11 and 14 December for the overall final vote on the State Budget for the 2019 financial year. source: Macauhub