[2020-01-20] Angola’s central bank approves new rules for the import and export of goods and services

Source: Macauhub

The import and export of goods and services in Angola has new rules that eliminate bureaucratic obstacles and exempts transactions of up to US$25,000 from requiring contracts, the National Bank of Angola (BNA) said on Friday.

“The National Bank of Angola, within the framework of the ongoing process of gradual liberalisation of the foreign exchange market, has changed the administrative procedures related to the current invisibles operations of resident foreign companies,” said the statement.

The new administrative procedures include the elimination of the compulsory licensing of services contracts with non-resident exchange entities, regardless of their value, a waiver on sending a copy of the contracts to the BNA and an increase in the value of the operations requiring a contract, from 1 million kwanzas to US$25,000.

The statement added that from now on it will be the responsibility of commercial banks to rigorously validate all current invisibles operations, based on their knowledge of their customer and the analysis of the supporting documentation, including the provision of service contracts, when applicable, in order to ensure the operation falls within the scope of the authorising entity, and the legality of the documentation.

Once the legitimacy of the transfer requests has been verified and validated, the commercial banks may sell foreign currency to their customers to carry out the requested current invisibles operations.

Compulsory registration of all current invisibles operations in the integrated system of foreign exchange operations (Sinoc) remains in place, and the information about the contracts is submitted through a technical data sheet that summarises all terms and conditions, although there is no requirement to send a copy of the contracts to the Angolan central bank.