Luanda – The Angolan Government Tuesday in Luanda denied a discrepancy of about Usd 32 billion in the country’s public funds from 2007 to 2010 as reported by the International Monetary Fund, adding that nothing from the latest report from the above mentioned financial institution leads to such interpretation.

The Executive was reacting in a note to reports in local and foreign media that the IMF was astonished with the “mysterious missing” of about Usd 32 billion from the Angolan State’s public funds from 2007 to 2010.

According to the note, the IMF report states on contrary that in line with the Law on Fiscal Responsibility of 2010, the Finance Ministry has launched the basis for the monitoring of all sources and uses of funds associated with the oil revenues.

 
The note also states that it has been found that one of the main reasons for the existence of the “residual balance”, in the referred amount and periods, is owed to the “transfer of funds to guaranteed accounts overseas in amounts above the debt service for which such accounts are reserved”, or to “the lack of adequate record of the parafiscal operations carried out by Sonangol or other entities out of the central Government.”

The Angolan Executive admits the eventual occurrence of a discrepancy in the records of the national accounts, but considers that this results mainly from insufficient record of the uses of oil revenues, mainly of Sonangol-EP’s revenues as a result of failure to full inclusion into Treasure Public Account, the source also says.

 
According to the source, a considerable share of this revenue is directly paid to the National Treasure, as it covers State’s expenses paid by Sonangol-EP, being this amount established as a residual balance (discrepancy), recorded in such accounts as “Non-Banking Internal Financing or Non-monetary Financing”.

 
The Executive of the Republic of Angola informed that a clarification of the discrepancy noted is in progress, under the Stand-By Arrangements with the IMF, following the Presidential Decree 58/11, of March 30, and a work team has been appointed to present its fiscal, monetary, exchange statistics and statistics of the balance of payment, the note also reads.

 
The Angolan Executive deplores the irresponsibility and sensationalism with which this matter was discussed by certain media and considers that the speculations and accusations of an alleged embezzlement of public funds by the Executive is part of the usual campaigns conducted by identified sectors, in their disparate attempt to discredit  the Angolan authorities and institutions, the note says.