US to loan Angola $400m to build homes for poor

The United States will loan $400-million to help Angola build one million homes for the poor in the next five years, the US ambassador to Angola, Dan Mozena, was cited as saying on Friday.

“Five weeks ago, the US sent two teams to promote a new credit line to Angola,” Mozena was cited by Jornal de Angola as saying.

Mozena said the US had also been in talks with Angola’s central bank and the Finance Ministry to provide technical assistance to both these institutions, the state-owned newspaper reported.

The African nation is recovering from a 27-year civil war that prompted millions to flee from the war-shattered countryside to the capital Luanda. The war ended in 2002.

The goal is to bring down real-estate prices in Luanda—one of the world’s most expensive cities—and lift millions of people living in crowded settlements around Luanda out of poverty.

The one million new homes, to be built in four years, are expected to cost $50-billion, according to the Angolan government.

US oil giant Chevron is a major oil producer in Angola, which rivals Nigeria as Africa’s biggest oil exporter.—Reuters