Instruction No. 1/92 of May 6, 1992

INSTRUCTION NO. 1/92

of May 6, 1992

Considering that one of the main objectives of the restructuring of the Angolan economy within the framework of the Government Action Plan is macroeconomic equilibrium based on the operation of market forces:

It being necessary to expand the Floating Exchange Rate Exchange Market, created by Notice No. 4/91 of November 4, to cover goods import operations;

It being indispensable, for this reason, to regulate the practical procedures governing the sale of foreign currency for this purpose, which must be based on market criteria;

Bearing in mind that this can only be achieved when the sale of foreign currency is guided by the transfer of the adopted criteria, which is only possible through a Public Foreign Exchange Sales System;

It being within the competence of the Banco Nacional de Angola, under Article 42 of the Organic Law, to define the main rules governing operations with gold and foreign exchange, establish exchange rates, and publish them;

In the exercise of the competence attributed to me by the aforementioned Organic Law,

I DETERMINE:

Article 1

The Public Foreign Exchange Sales System is hereby established within the framework of the Floating Exchange Rate Exchange Market, whose regulation and administration shall be under the responsibility of the Banco Nacional de Angola, in its capacity as the Central Bank.

Article 2

The Public Foreign Exchange Sales System shall be guided by the National Commission for Public Foreign Exchange Sales, directly subordinate to the Governor of the Banco Nacional de Angola.

Article 3

1. In the Provinces where public foreign exchange sales are held, a Provincial Commission for Public Foreign Exchange Sales shall be established, coordinated by the Provincial Director of the Banco Nacional de Angola and comprising, in addition to him, the two bank employees next in the hierarchy, which shall have the following functions:

a) Publicize the date, time, and location of the public foreign exchange sales through a notice prepared in accordance with Annex No. 1, to be posted in the premises of the Banco Nacional de Angola in a location easily accessible to interested parties, and advertised through the media.

b) Inform, at the beginning of each session, of the minimum exchange rate and the amount of foreign currency that the Bank will put up for sale, in accordance with the guidelines received from the National Commission.

c) Open the envelopes containing the foreign exchange purchase proposals, verify the requested amounts and the offered price, as well as confirm the presence of the BNA deposit slip or a certified bank transfer check from a banking institution covering the total value of the offer.

d) Rank the proposals in descending order of the offered prices.

e) Supervise the foreign exchange sale, respecting the order referred to in the previous subparagraph and the minimum basic exchange rate.

2. In the Province of Luanda, the National Commission shall also exercise the functions of the Provincial Commission for Public Foreign Exchange Sales.

3. Public foreign exchange sales sessions must be announced at least eight days in advance of their scheduled date.

Article 4

1. The dates for holding public foreign exchange sales sessions, as well as the quantity of foreign currency to be sold and the minimum basic exchange rate for each session, shall be established by the National Commission for Public Foreign Exchange Sales.

2. To determine the quantity of foreign currency to be sold and the minimum basic exchange rate, the National Commission shall meet behind closed doors on the day of each session at 10:00 AM, with at least three of its members present and without the presence or participation of any other person besides the Commission members.

3. Once the amount to be sold and the minimum basic exchange rate for that day are decided, these values shall be recorded in minutes, to be drafted and signed by all present before they leave the room where the meeting was held.

4. Sales shall be conducted in single lots equivalent to USD 5,000.00 (five thousand United States dollars).

Article 5

All Angolan companies may submit purchase proposals in the Public Foreign Exchange Sales System.

Article 6

1. Foreign exchange purchase proposals must be submitted according to the model in Annex No. 2 and placed in a sealed envelope, together with:

a) a photocopy of a document proving that the company is of Angolan law;

b) a deposit slip at BNA in a special account designated "Public Foreign Exchange Sales", or a bank transfer order or a certified check from a banking institution covering the total value of the proposal.

2. The envelopes containing the proposals shall be deposited in a specially designated and marked urn for this purpose, which shall be located in an easily and directly accessible area for the public, with each proposer receiving a numbered ticket at the time of depositing the envelope.

3. Proposals may be deposited starting at 8:30 AM on the day of the sales session to which they relate, and the urn must be obligatorily closed and locked at 10:00 AM, at which time the meeting of the National Commission for Public Foreign Exchange Sales begins, in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 4.

4. The transfer orders and certified checks referred to in subparagraph b of paragraph 1 of this Article must be made out to "BNA – Public Foreign Exchange Sales".

Article 7

1. In a public session, and in the presence of at least two members of the Provincial Commission for Public Foreign Exchange Sales, all envelopes containing purchase proposals shall be opened.

2. After opening the envelopes, the Provincial Commission shall rank the purchase proposals on a board visible to all present and shall award them based on and in descending order of the offered prices.

3. If there are proposals with identical prices and the foreign currency available for sale is insufficient to cover all of them, the available foreign currency shall be awarded proportionally to the proposal amounts, and proposers may withdraw their proposals if they are not interested in receiving partial allocations.

4. If no proposals are submitted, or if none of the proposals offer a price equal to or higher than the minimum basic exchange rate established by the Commission, the session shall be declared null and void.

Article 8

1. Immediately after a sales session is concluded, unfulfilled proposals shall be returned to the respective companies, together with the certified check or BNA check for the deposited amount.

2. In cases of partial fulfillment of a proposal, the BNA shall issue a check in national currency for the difference between the proposal value and the awarded value.

Article 9

1. Upon completion of the Public Foreign Exchange Sales session, each winning company shall receive a certificate confirming the volume of foreign currency acquired, according to the model in Annex No. 3.

2. The acquired foreign currency may only be used for payments for goods imports. Companies must, starting from the third day after the session, present at the location indicated on the aforementioned certificate, the pro-forma invoice(s) from the exporter(s) indicating the merchandise to be acquired and its value, which may include freight and insurance, pending the completion of the operation.

3. The company shall have a period of 20 (twenty) days, counted from the date of the session, to submit the pro-forma invoices from the exporters, under penalty of losing the right to the acquired foreign currency.

4. When the import value exceeds USD 10,000.00 (ten thousand United States dollars), the company is obligated to submit, within 8 (eight) days after the completion of the operation, the Prior Import Registration Form, under penalty of being barred from participating in future public foreign exchange sales sessions.

5. Payment instructions may not be for amounts less than USD 1,500.00 (one thousand five hundred United States dollars), except in cases of routing, as per paragraph 3 of Article 8.

Article 10

This Instruction enters into force immediately upon its publication.

PUBLISH

Luanda, May 6, 1992

THE GOVERNOR

Sebastião Bastos Lavrador