P 141709Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY LUANDA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5437
INFO OPEC COLLECTIVE
SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
NSC WASHDC
DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC

C O N F I D E N T I A L LUANDA 000250 
 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EEB/OMA ALEX WHITTINGTON 
DEPARTMENT PASS TO USAID/EGAT AND AFR 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/13/2019 
TAGS: AO ECON EFIN ENIV PGOV PINR
SUBJECT: GOVERNOR OF CENTRAL BANK SACKED; NEW GOVERNOR HAS 
NO BANKING EXPERIENCE 
 
REF: A. A. LUANDA 237 
     ¶B. B. LUANDA 200 
     ¶C. C. LUANDA 159 
 
Classified By: Classified by Charge Jeff Hawkins for reasons 1.4 (b) 
and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: As predicted in ref (A), Angolan central bank 
Governor Amadeu de Jesus Mauricio was sacked by President Dos 
Santos on April 11.  The press has been silent about the 
reasons for the dismissal, but it appears Mauricio was let go 
because he had failed to secure authorization from either the 
Minister of Finance or President Dos Santos before he 
authorized the spending of international reserves, which have 
declined by 25 percent in the last three months.  Mauricio's 
replacement is former Vice Minister of Industry Abraao 
Gourgel, who appears to be unqualified for the post.  The 
appointment is not a step forward for fiscal responsibility. 
End Summary 
 
¶2. (C) On April 11, the Government of Angola announced that 
Amadeu Mauricio, Governor of Angola's central Bank, Banco 
Nacional de Angola (BNA), was stepping down, allegedly at his 
own request.  The official announcement, and the state-owned 
press, was silent about the reasons for the "resignation." 
According to Embassy sources, Mauricio was sacked.  BNA Vice 
Governor Rui Miguens (please protect) told us that Mauricio 
had been fired for failing to seek authorization to spend 
international reserves.  (Note: Angola's reserves have 
declined from USD 20 to USD 15 billion during the first three 
months of the year.  See Ref C.)  The Chief Economist of the 
World Bank office in Angola suggested to us that, if true, 
this was a curious reason to fire a central banker, because 
"that is what they do."  His implication being that ideally 
Mauricio should not have had to seek authorization from the 
President for pursuing the GRA policy of a stable Kwanza. 
 
¶3. (C) Also on April 11, President Dos Santos appointed 
Abraao Pio de Amaral Gourgel as the new Governor of BNA. 
Gourgel.  Gourgel was the Deputy Minister of Industry from 
1996 until this appointment and does not appear to have any 
banking or finance experience in his past.  A long-time MPLA 
activist, he is rumored to have been educated in Cuba, 
possibly in economics.  According to contacts, he speaks no 
other language besides Portuguese.  He is not known to have a 
particularly close relationship with President Dos Santos, 
although several years ago the President appointed Gourgel 
chair of a development commission for Uige province.  When 
USD 330 million from the USD 500 billion dollar Uige 
development fund went missing, the Angolan press alleged that 
Gourgel embezzled the money from this fund that the 
commission was created to manage.  Gourgel was never 
indicted, the money was never recovered, and the scandal 
eventually faded.  During Gourgel's tenure at the Ministry of 
Industry, the USDA canceled its Section 416(b) program with 
the ministry due to improper reporting on the disposition of 
the commodities and the ministry's failure to deposit the 
proceeds of the sale of the commodities into a development 
account as required by the agreement. 
 
¶4. (C) Comment:  Reftel reporting had speculated that Angola 
was likely spending its reserves to defend an overvalued 
Kwanza.  Despite government denials, indications are that 
there was a large increase in the demand for dollars at the 
BNA from December to February, larger than can be accounted 
for by Angola's average monthly import bill.  Post believes 
that Mauricio was savvy enough to at least inform either the 
Minister of Finance and/or President Dos Santos before he 
committed reserves to meet the increase in demand for 
dollars.  Either he committed the reserves absent a clear 
response from his superiors, and following the GRA's stable 
Kwanza policy, or his superiors had consented to defending 
the Kwanza but were ultimately surprised at the magnitude of 
the demand and at the cost in reserves of this policy 
decision. 
 
¶5. (C) Comment Continued.  We do not understand President Dos 
Santos's troubling decision to replace Mauricio with someone 
who has no prior banking or finance experience during tough 
economic times.  One plausible explanation is that Dos Santos 
wants a much tighter control over how the central bank spends 
Angola's reserves and is willing to sacrifice competence at 
the top while career BNA officials continue to run the day to 
day operations of the bank.  Vice Governor Miguens does not 
intend to resign and Post believes that the operation of the 
BNA will be in good hands if Miguens is the de facto decision 
maker.  Ultimately though, this was a decision based on 
politics, not economics. 
 
 
HAWKINS