NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

The World Bank will offer $1 billion in financing to help Angola rebuild infrastructure and develop its agriculture, an official at the Washington-based lender said on Monday.

Angola, which is sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest oil producer, has seen its economy grow rapidly since a 27-year civil war ended in 2002.

But the country still needs to repair infrastructure and expand other sectors of the economy.

“We can make available $1 billion, fundamentally to finance infrastructure and agriculture,” Gregor Binkert, the World Bank’s country director for Angola and five other African countries, told reporters in Luanda.

“There is much need and the government has quite a coherent programme, so the World Bank will support it financially, through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development,” he said.

Binkert did not provide details on the financing. He did say that in coming months, the World Bank would define priorities, financing mechanisms and how to maximise the lender’s resources.