LONDON (Standard&Poor's) July 12, 2011--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today raised its long-term foreign and local sovereign credit ratings on the Republic of Angola to 'BB-' from 'B+'. We are affirming the 'B' foreign- and local-currency short-term sovereign credit ratings. At the same time, we are revising Angola's transfer and convertibility (T&C) assessment to 'BB-' from 'B+'. The outlook is stable. "The upgrade reflects our view of the robust improvement in Angola's fiscal and external balances," Standard&Poor's credit analyst Ravi Bhatia said. "Following a sharp fall in oil prices and production in 2009, a strong rebound in prices in 2010 returned the fiscal and current account balances to surpluses amounting to an estimated 8.7% and 8.2%
