/ 14 December 1999

ANGOLA REVALUES KWANZA

ANGOLA issued a revalued currency on Monday, lopping six zeroes off the kwanza in a bid to control inflation and shed the number of bank notes required for transactions. The current notes, the readjusted kwanza, trade at around 5,5-million to the US dollar. The new rate will be 5,5 kwanza to the dollar. The resumption in December last year of a 25-year-old civil war between the ruling MPLA and the rebel Unita movement has fueled inflation and provoked a near 500% depreciation in the currency in the past 12 months.