Foreign trade figures of Angola

Foreign Trade in Figures

Angola has considerably liberalised its trade scheme over the last few years. Trade represents around 67% of the country's GDP (World Bank, latest available data). The country is a member of SADC (Southern African Development Community) and ECCAS (Economic Community of Central African States), and signed the African Continental Free Trade Agreement in May 2019. Custom duties are relatively low (9.5% in average). The imports of certain products, such as pharmaceuticals and agricultural products, still require authorisations from the concerned official ministries. Angola has also adopted the SADC guidelines on biotechnology, which ban the import of biotechnological particles. Delays in customs clearance at the ports still remain a major problem.

Oil exports account for more than 95% of total exports. The country is also a major exporter of diamonds and is exporting liquefied natural gas to the American, European and Japanese markets; other exports include, coffee, sisal, and fish. Imports mainly involve machinery, vehicles, spare parts, medicines, food, textiles, and military goods. Angola's main trade partners are China (more than 60% of exports), India, the European Union (Spain, Portugal) and the United States. In 2020 and 2021, Angola's oil revenues were impacted by the collapse of oil prices and restrictions under the OPEC+ production agreement.

Thanks to its comfortable oil revenues, Angola historically records a large but volatile trade surplus that should continue in the coming years. In 2020, merchandise exports decreased to USD 20.9 billion (from USD 34.7 billion in 2019), while imports dropped to USD 9.5 billion (from USD 14.1 billion). Services exports fell to USD 66 million (from USD 455 million in 2019), while imports dropped to USD 5.4 billion (from USD 8 billion) (WTO). In 2020, the trade balance declined to USD 11.4 billion, down from its 2019 level (USD 20.6 billion) (World Bank). Due to the fall in oil exports and the persistent impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the trade surplus narrowed further in 2021.