How the "mighty" fall. Is this another case of the hunter becoming the hunted? Should a severely brutalized developing (more correctly undeveloped) former colony financially support a brutal former colonial power in the latter's time of self inflicted need? What would be Angola's payback? Would Portugal do same if roles are reversed?
Portugal's GDP per capita is a multiple of Angola's. Colonial Portugal is one reason for this disparity. Should the Angolan government not be more interested in improving the battered and pitiful life of a majority of Angolans? How will helping to bail out the Portuguese economy help to make the lives of a majority of Angolans better?
Angolans should remember that it has been said for a long time, that anyone who chooses to eat with the devil should not only use a long spoon, but watch all the one's sides. Good money should not go after bad even when cultural and historical ties are claimed.
oa
________________________________________
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Hetty ter Haar [oldavenue@googlemail.com]
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2011 2:33 PM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Angola pours oil money into debt-ridden Portugal
Angola pours oil money into debt-ridden Portugal
Tables turn as Luanda buys up Lisbon's assets and former colonial
families return to Portugal's 'el Dorado'
Monica Mark in Abidjan
guardian.co.uk, Friday 18 November 2011 16.50 GMT
Not so long ago, thousands of Angolans were fleeing for Portugal. Now
the tables have turned. Angola's remarkable image makeover from a war-
torn African backwater to rising global oil power has been capped by
news that it will provide a much needed shot in the arm to its debt-
ridden former colonial masters.
President Eduardo dos Santos said Angola was prepared to invest its
burgeoning petrodollars in Portugal, which has been ordered to
privatise struggling state-owned firms under a €80bn (£70bn)
International Monetary Fund bailout.
"We're aware of the difficulties the Portuguese people have faced
recently and in such difficult times we must use our trump cards," dos
Santos said at a press conference with the visiting Portuguese prime
minister, Pedro Passos Coelho, according to Angola's state news agency
Angop.
Coelho Passos added: "This visit is of huge significance. It is a
unique opportunity … to build a base for stronger and closer ties
between the two countries, their citizens, their companies and
states."
"Remember that we are looking to privatise [state utility company]
Energias de Portugal and [national grid] REN," he told Angola's state
broadcaster.
Other state-owned entities up for grabs include the national airline
Tap and the Banco Português de Negócios. Banco BIC of Angola is set to
buy the distressed bank for €40m – less than a fifth of its original
market value. Isabel dos Santos, daughter of the long-serving
president, is a part owner of BIC.
Given that the IMF forecasts economic growth of 11% next year, while
Portugal's will shrink by 1.8%, analysts say Angola's financial aid to
Portugal will grow. "Angola already has large investments in
Portugal's private sector so they do view buying in it as an
opportunity," said one economist in Luanda, the Angolan capital.
Meanwhile, the booming economy, fed by a 1.8m barrel-per-day oil
industry, has prompted its Portuguese-speaking compatriots to flock
south for business and work opportunities. The Portuguese foreign
ministry said tens of thousands of citizens have set up shop in Angola
over the last year.
"Angola was at one point the Portuguese El Dorado," a Luanda-based
diplomat said, referring to the period of colonial rule that ended in
1975.
"A lot of Portuguese who were born here then went back to Portugal but
their families are now coming back."
Some Angolans have criticised the growing financial ties between
Lisbon and Luanda, amid worries of capital flight and Angola's own
yawning poverty gap.
"Now is not the time to help out the Portuguese if we can't be sure
the gap between the poor and rich doesn't close," a blogger on
paginaglobal posted.
In 2008, two-thirds of Angolans lived on less than €1 a day, while
only 25% of children are enrolled in primary school.
Luanda has been ranked the most expensive city in the world for
expatriates for the second year running, ahead of Tokyo, according to
Mercer consultants.
Angola's breakneck growth is also affording Luanda some regional
clout, with the country vying with Nigeria to become Africa's top oil
exporter. It joins other African countries such as Ghana and Nigeria
as among the fastest-growing economies in the world.
State oil company Sonangol, which has been criticised in the past for
a lack of transparency, runs operations in almost every sector of the
economy. In 2001, BP was forced to back down on plans to publish its
oil-related earnings from Angola after President Dos Santos threatened
to kick the British oil major out of the country if did so.
© 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies.
All rights reserved.
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