Angola has updated its exchange rate regime for to the Mining Sector, according to official legal database Legis-PALOP+TL.
As of February 10, 2023, entities that carry out prospecting, research, evaluation, exploration, commercialization, cutting, processing and refining of any type of ore, are mandated to comply, namely, with the following, under penalty of fines that may amount to AOA 500,000,000 (approximately USD 1 million):
⦁ Exports of raw, polished or refined ore, or product of mining origin in bars, alloys, blocks, stones or jewels, intermediate or final products, must be fully settled in freely convertible foreign currency;
⦁ Revenues from such exports received by Foreign Investing Entities (i.e. any person, natural or legal, not a foreign exchange resident who makes foreign investment) must be deposited and operated in a bank account held by the Entities with Banking Financial Institutions domiciled abroad, without the need for authorization from the National Bank of Angola (BNA), and the amounts necessary for the payment of tax charges and other obligations to the Angolan State, as well as for the settlement of goods and services provided by foreign exchange residents.
⦁ Accounts opened with Banking Financial Institutions domiciled in the country denominated in foreign currency can only be operated for: payment of capital, interest and charges related to loans or debt in foreign currency contracted in Angola or abroad; reimbursement of supplies originating abroad; payments abroad, including settlement of imports of goods and services intended exclusively for use by the company holding the account; payments to foreign shareholders; other payments that can be made in foreign currency; sale of foreign currency and transfer of purchased domestic currency to accounts denominated in domestic currency.
Legal Update/Angola: Bank accounts rules for financial institutions
Also as of February 10, capital export and import operations are exempt from any BNA authorization, namely transfers of profits and dividends to non-resident exchange partners or shareholders, carried out by the following entities:
⦁ Holders of mining rights for the recognition, prospecting, research, evaluation, exploration, commercialization and improvement of mineral resources;
⦁ Entities dedicated to the cutting of diamonds and other precious and semi-precious stones;
⦁ Buyers and sellers of rough diamonds or other minerals;
⦁ Exporters of mineral resources or their polished or refined derivatives;
⦁ The public agency for the sale of diamonds in Angola;
⦁ Public companies of diamonds and other mineral resources;
⦁ Equivalent entities that carry out mining activities tending to the production of any mineral resource.