Angola’s vast oil reserves have helped it rebuild its shattered infrastructure and become one of the world’s fastest growing countries. But the country needs to develop the rest of its economy quickly to reduce its vulnerability to a fall in oil prices and tackle its high levels of poverty.
The discovery of vast oil reserves off the shore of Angola has significantly improved the country's economic outlook, with the government licensing the exploration and structuring the taxation of production in such a way that profits from the oil will filter down to benefit the entire population.
Angola’s banks are likely to grow faster than any others in Africa over the next decade, and they are also among the continent’s most profitable. But they will have to start innovating as increased competition and new regulations look set to make their presence felt.
Angola’s government has presided over 10 years of peace and booming economic growth, and neither looks likely to be disturbed in the foreseeable future. Nonetheless, managing the expectations of Angolans over the next decade as the memory of civil war fades will become harder.