Oil sector companies operating in Angola are required since Monday to make tax payments to the state and to pay local suppliers exclusively in kwanzas, Angola’s national currency.

The Law on the Oil Sector Foreign Exchange Regime includes this requirement, which means that state company Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola (Sonangol) and foreign companies must deposit the necessary fund to pay the State and suppliers in Angolan banks.

The Law stipulates that profit and dividends, incentives and other capital remunerations as well as investment amortizations may, in the case of foreign subsidiaries, be deposited abroad.

According to Angolan news agency Angop, the governor of the Angolan National Bank (BNA), José Massano, said in June that the new law would allow some funds resulting from the Angolan oil business that were deposited outside Angola to be kept inside the country.

Massano noted that the advantages of this measure included “bringing greater capacity to the financial system to support development of the national economy as well as to allow for greater integration of the oil sector into the Angolan economy, given its importance.”

The Foreign Exchange Regime for oil sector operations was, until now, regulated by amendments to the laws regulating contracts for stake-holding partnerships, production sharing and services. (macauhub)