Purchases from Portugal to Angola more than tripled last year, from around 280 million euros in 2017 to almost 930 million in 2018, according to data from the Portuguese National Statistics Institute.
[dropcap type=”background”]I[/dropcap]n 2017, Portugal imported goods worth 278.9 million euros, up 233% in 2018 to 928.6 million euros, according to INE data.
On the other hand, exports from Portugal to Angola fell by 15.2%, as a result of the decrease in sales, from 1.7 billion euros in 2017 to 1.5 billion last year.
Thus, the trade balance, although still positive for Portugal, registered a significant decrease of 61.1%, from 1.5 billion in 2017 to 586 million in the last year.
According to data from the Portuguese Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade (AICEP), purchases from Portugal to Angola go essentially through oil, which represents 90% of imports, and there is still room for ‘Machines and Appliances’, which represent 2, 8%, and Agricultural Products, which are worth 2.6% of the total purchases from Portugal to Angola.
Looking at Portugal’s relationship with the rest of the Portuguese-speaking countries, last year’s balance of trade followed the trend of relations with Angola, the main Portuguese trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa.
Thus, in 2017 Portugal exported 2.3 billion euros to Angola, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique and Sao Tome and Principe, and then reduced purchases by 15.2% to 2.1 billion last year.
Conversely, Portugal bought these countries € 1.4 billion worth of goods last year, a rise of 101.5% over the 730 million that it had imported from the Portuguese-speaking African Countries (PALOP) in 2017.
In total, Portugal’s balance of trade with PALOP increased from 1.6 billion in 2017 to 649.8 million last year, down almost 61%.
