What impact are low oil prices having in Africa?
This article is published in collaboration with Quartz.
Angola’s economy is in a rough spot, and its currency just hit a record low against the US dollar following its latest devaluation, Bloomberg reports.
Like a lot of market developments these days, the kwanza’s lowly state has its roots in the sharp decline of oil prices over the last year and a half. Since July 2014, the currency has lost 37% of its strength against the dollar and Brent has fallen 67%. OPEC stats show that 90% of the country’s exports are oil-related, and Venezuela comes to mind as a country as economically dependent on the commodity.
Similar issues are plaguing Nigeria and Algeria, two of the three other African members of OPEC (the third being Libya, which has a pretty relatively stabile currency despite its governmental dysfunction than the currency issued by one).
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Author: Melvin Backman is a Finance and Markets Reporter at Quartz.
Image: A worker walks past a pump jack on an oil field. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin.
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