Angola Doubles Diesel Prices after IMF Call for Subsidy Cuts

Angola raised diesel prices by 50 percent, the second increase in a year in a country where residents have long been grappling with increasing living costs.

The announcement late Sunday came three weeks after the International Monetary Fund said that the oil-producing southwest African nation should do more to eliminate fuel subsidies that cost about $3 billion in 2024. That’s about the same as the government spent on health and education last year, according to the country’s 2025 budget. 

While the removal of the subsidies will enable the government to increase spending on other sectors, it’s also likely to bolster transport costs in a country where the World Bank estimates more than half the population of 37 million live on less than $2 a day. A similar decision to cut gasoline subsidies in 2023 triggered violent protests in the central Angolan city of Huambo, where clashes between taxi drivers and the police left five people dead.

‘Not Happy’

“We’re not happy with the increase in fuel prices,” said Sabino Vieira da Silva, president of Angola’s truck-drivers association, which has about 3,500 members. “We’ve warned the government about the potential consequences of the fuel price increase,” he said, adding that his members will meet April 11 to decide an official position on the matter.

Angolan Minister of State for Economic Coordination Jose de Lima Massano said in January that his government remains committed to removing fuel subsidies, although it doesn’t intend to scrap them altogether this year to avoid “unnecessary hardship.” 

Diesel prices increased to 300 kwanza ($0.33) per liter from 200 kwanza as of 1 a.m. in Luanda on Monday, the regulator for petroleum derivatives said in a statement. The last time Angola boosted diesel prices was in April 2024, when the price of a liter rose to 200 kwanzas from 140 kwanzas.

Angolan inflation has been above 10 percent for the past decade, reaching a peak of 42.8 percent in June 2024.