Angola’s President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has appointed Valter Filipe Duarte da Silva as the new central bank governor after Jose Pedro de Morais resigned. Da Silva had been working as a lawyer in the vice-president’s office and his appointment was announced together with a cabinet reshuffle by the president involving the ministers of housing, health, commerce, construction and culture.
He takes the over at a time when the Kwanza currency has lost more than a third of its value since the start of 2015. Angola, which is Africa’s second-largest oil exporter, has been hard hit by the oil price slump which has reduced government revenues and constrained growth. Read more on Angola’s economy here.