Hi zusammen,
vielleicht auch touristisch interessant...
Viele Grüße aus Windhoek
Christian
Originalmeldung von NAMPA:
The number of passengers using Air Namibia to and from Angola has declined by 40 per cent since mid-2015 due to an economic crisis currently experienced in this oil-rich country.
Air Namibia Country Manager in Angola Marisa de Almeida told Nampa here on Thursday not so many people use the airline anymore because of the drop in oil prices.
“We had been making good profit in Angola, as this country is our biggest revenue source in terms of flights. But that has changed now,” she said.
Air Namibia has been operating flights to and from Angola for 25 years now.
Speaking to this agency on the side lines of the 25th anniversary of the flight route, De Almeida said the situation is not the worst, but Air Namibia might be forced to cut some flight frequencies should customer figures decline further.
Angola is the second biggest exporter of oil in Africa next to Nigeria, but the industry is not looking too well for countries that depend on oil exports. The price of a barrel dropped sharply since 2015 because of an increase in supply on the international market. One barrel of Brent Crude oil has dropped to about US Dollars 50 from about US Dollars 110 in 2014.
While oil on the international market has become 'cheaper', locally people have to pay more for petroleum products following the collapse in oil prices that began in mid-2014 and after the Angolan government cut the 2016 budget by 20 per cent in March.
At fuel outlets in Angola, a litre of petrol currently cost 160 Angolan Kwanza (about N.dollars 15.21), a rise from 60 Kwanza (about N.dollars 5.70) before 2015. Diesel prices increased from 40 Kwanza (about N.dollars 3.80) to 135 Kwanza (about N.dollars 12.83) per litre.
Locals say the situation is worse in urban Luanda, where most families that own more than four cars now use only one or two, as they can no longer afford fuel for all vehicles.
As such, the traffic volume in Luanda has decreased.
“We used to drive for two hours from the city centre to the building of the Namibian Embassy simply because of traffic congestion but now, it takes us just thirty minutes,” a driver from the Namibian Embassy here said.
Also speaking to Nampa on Thursday, Namibian Ambassador to Angola Grace Uushona said the crisis is also affecting business in Namibia.
“Angolan people do not have enough money to travel to Namibia and shop like we know, and as such, some businesses are affected,” she noted.
