Angola tries to ride out the slump
The economy has stalled and oil-output growth targets will not be met. Now the president has put his daughter in charge of the state company
Angola has been hit hard by the collapse of oil-export revenue, while the installation of Isabel dos Santos, the president’s daughter, as head of state oil firm Sonangol in June has raised questions for the oil companies with which it does business. Economic growth has collapsed with the oil price. The finance ministry said in July it was cutting its GDP growth forecast for this year to 1.3% from a previous estimate of 3.3%, which was already a drop on previous growth. Government revenues—mostly from oil—will also fall, from $24.4bn to $18bn, and so, therefore, will spending, from $30bn to $24bn. The latest drop in the oil price will probably now send the government back to the IMF asking fo
Also in this section
4 March 2026
The US president has repeatedly promised to lower gasoline prices, but this ambition conflicts with his parallel aim to increase drilling and could be upended by his war against Iran
4 March 2026
With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed following US-Israel strikes and Iran’s retaliatory escalation, Fujairah has become the region’s critical pressure release valve—and is now under serious threat
3 March 2026
The killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei in US–Israeli strikes marks the most serious escalation in the region in decades and a bigger potential threat to the oil market than the start of the Russia-Ukraine crisis
2 March 2026
A potential blockade of the Strait of Hormuz following the escalating US-Iran conflict risks disrupting Qatari LNG exports that underpin global gas markets, exposing Asia and other markets to sharp price spikes, cargo shortages and renewed reliance on dirtier fuels
