Foreign trade figures of Angola

Foreign Trade in Figures

Angola has considerably liberalised its trade scheme over the last few years. Trade represents around 60% 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 and 15% of imports), India, the European Union (Portugal, Spain) and the United States.

Thanks to its comfortable oil revenues, Angola historically records a large but volatile trade surplus that should continue in the coming years. In 2021, merchandise exports increased to USD 33.6 billion (from USD 20.9 billion in 2020), while imports increased to USD 11.8 billion (from USD 9.5 billion). Services exports slightly increased to USD 94 million (from USD 66 million in 2020), while imports rose to USD 7 billion (from USD 5.4 billion) (WTO). Thanks to economic recovery and higher oil prices, the trade balance soared to USD 21.8 billion in 2021, up from USD 11.4 billion in 2020 (World Bank).