Washington D.C. — Angola’s Finance Minister, Vera Daves de Sousa, emerged as one of the most compelling and influential African voices during the 2025 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
AfricaHeadline Reports Team
editorial@africaheadline.com
At just 40 years old, she continues to defy expectations — not only as Angola’s first female finance minister but also as a rare symbol of technocratic resilience in a region wrestling with post-COVID economic recovery, debt distress and inflationary pressure.
Despite Angola being effectively locked out of international capital markets since 2022, Daves de Sousa’s presence at the April meetings was far from marginal. Her interventions on debt restructuring, fiscal transparency and domestic revenue mobilization were widely acknowledged in policy circles, underscoring her growing stature as one of Africa’s most respected economic minds.
Appointed in October 2019 by President João Lourenço, Vera Daves inherited a challenging fiscal landscape. Oil revenues — historically Angola’s economic lifeline — had plummeted, public debt hovered around 120% of GDP, and inflationary pressures were squeezing household incomes. Yet, over six years, she has steered a bold programme of fiscal consolidation, expenditure control, subsidy reform and economic diversification — much of it under the watchful eye of the IMF.
Her leadership has seen Angola complete a multibillion-dollar Extended Fund Facility with the IMF and renegotiate billions in Chinese bilateral debt. Her ministry also launched major initiatives to digitalize the tax system, reduce fuel subsidies, and improve budgetary discipline.
“She is a strategic thinker and doesn’t sugar-coat Angola’s challenges,” said a World Bank official who attended one of her panels in Washington. “She represents a new generation of African policymakers who combine local knowledge with global fluency.”
Still, the road ahead is complex. Angola’s economy, while stabilizing, remains vulnerable to oil price volatility. External borrowing options remain constrained, and diversification efforts are still maturing. However, the recent stabilization of the kwanza and a sharp decline in monthly inflation — from 3.1% in January to 1.2% in April — have added cautious optimism to Angola’s macroeconomic outlook in 2025.
Back home, Vera Daves commands widespread respect in policy and civil society circles. Her measured tone, clarity of vision and refusal to engage in populist distractions have made her a rare technocratic constant in a region often rocked by instability and elite turnover.
“Angola cannot afford fiscal illusion,” she remarked during her Washington address. “Our commitment is to build a resilient economy that serves the Angolan people, not just statistics.”
As Angola gradually rebuilds credibility with investors, Vera Daves de Sousa’s role remains pivotal — not only as a steward of the country’s public finances, but as a bridge between African fiscal realities and global economic governance.
