Luanda, Angola, 28 Jun – The Angolan government has decided to lower the mandatory reserves that commercial banks have to keep at the central bank, in order to boost liquidity and the system’s financing capacity, Angola’s Economy Minister said on Friday in Luanda.

The minister specified that mandatory reserves will drop from 30 to 25 percent and besides this may be composed of kwanzas (the national currency) or foreign currency.

Commercial bank managers have complained about liquidity problems since the government decided last March to up mandatory reserves from 20 to 30 percent.

The payments and operations director at Banco Nacional de Angola, Jorge Coje, told Angola’s National Radio that the government’s decision would allow commercial banks to have more resources for financing the economy and consequently lower interest rates. (macauhub)