Oil-rich Angola is ready to enter into a programme with the International Monetary Fund (imf), but it only wants help in restructuring its debt, not new loans, the country's finance minister has said. The reason years of talks between Angola and the imf had so far failed to bear fruit because organisations such as the IMF "don't have an accumulated knowledge of Angolan economics and need to build that before discussing policies', Jose Pedro de Morais, junior minister of finance, Angola, said.

Angola is riddled with problems after its devastating 27 year civil war ended in April 2002. To help fund its post-conflict reconstruction, Angola has relied on expensive oil-guaranteed loans, but the international community would prefer it to have an imf programme in order to help it access credit on more favourable terms. Angola simply wanted a programme that would help it tackle its debt arrears. "We are looking for a seal of approval that the imf can give to creditors in order for us to reschedule our debt,' Jose added.