IMF and Angola to negotiate loan

Eduardo dos Santos's government broke off talks with the IMF in 2007

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Angola have agreed to begin talks on a loan to help the African country cope with the global economic slowdown.

The IMF said it had been assessing the economy and talking to officials, and negotiations would start next month.

Angola, one of Africa's largest oil producers, has been hit by the fall in the price of oil since last year.

Angola's relations with the IMF have been strained since its lengthy civil war ended in 2002.

Loan talks between the two were broken off in 2007.

'Unprecedented' measures

Lamin Leigh, the IMF mission chief for Angola, said fund representatives would return to the country next month "to conduct programme negotiations with a view to pave the way for the IMF to help Angola weather the impact of the global slowdown on its economy".

Last week, the IMF said it would take "unprecedented" measures to help poor countries cope with the downturn.

It said it would boost lending by up to $17bn (£10.2bn) between now and 2014, and suspend interest on some loans to low-income countries until 2011.

Last month, the IMF agreed a $2.5bn loan with Sri Lanka and a $600m loan with Ghana.