Currency set to weaken further

ANGOLA’S kwanza may weaken a further 20 percent this year as the slump in oil batters dollar revenue, according to the country’s biggest bank by assets. A loss of that magnitude would exceed the most pessimistic of forecasts in a survey for the currency of Nigeria, which also depends on the commodity for almost all export income. The kwanza dropped 4.6 percent in the past three months to 103.65 (R11.6815) a dollar by 10.12am in Luanda, the lowest since at least 1999. The currency’s recent performance suggested it might slide to 130 by December, said Joao Fonseca, an executive director at Banco Angolano de Investimentos. – Bloomberg