Angola: Interest rates raised to 9.75%

Angola’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate for a second time this year after the currency was devalued, stoking inflation. The policy rate was increased by 50 basis points to 9.75 percent, the Banco Nacional de Angola said on Monday. The bank lowered the official rate for the kwanza by about 5.8 percent to 116.8745 per dollar on June 5. The currency has weakened 15 percent against the dollar on the interbank market this year and was trading at 121.7819 as of 7am in the capital Luanda. Inflation accelerated to 8.9 percent in May from 8.2 percent in the previous month. The government in February cut its 2015 budget by 26 percent to 5.4 trillion kwanza (R540 billion), while predicting the fiscal gap will reach 7 percent of gross domestic product. – Bloomberg