USAID and the Central Bank of Angola Sign Bilateral Grant Agreement
Photo: A. Bird, USAID/Angola
The public signing ceremony of a Limited Scope Grant Agreement between the U.S. Government, through its Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Central Bank of Angola (Banco Nacional de Angola - BNA) took place on January 18th, 2008, at the Central Bank’s headquarters.
This is the first bilateral grant agreement by U.S. Government with the Government of Angola. The Limited Scope Grant Agreement was originally signed on August 8th, 2007, for $500,000, and later amended on September 20th, 2007, with an additional $750,000, to a total U.S. Government commitment of $1.25 million. This two-year $1.25 million agreement aims to promote policies, procedures, and capacity-building to improve the macroeconomic environment and encourage commercial banks to increase their willingness and ability to lend to small- and medium-sized enterprises.
On September 12th, 2007, the Angolan Council of Ministers approved a resolution authorizing Amadeu Maurício, Governor of the Central Bank of Angola, to sign this agreement on behalf of the Government of Angola with USAID.
The mutually-agreed upon goals are found in the credit reform policy matrix that was developed with USAID-funded technical assistance and adopted by the Central Bank of Angola as its official policy document. The policy matrix outlines the reform priorities that the Central Bank of Angola is pursuing with all of its donors, which include the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
