And the latest country to set up a new sovereign fund will be... Angola. 

Today, the country announced plans to launch the Fundo Soberano de Angola (FSDEA), which will be a development focused investment fund. 

(Actually, that’s not totally true: Angola first announced plans to launch a new sovereign fund ages ago; see this post from back in 2009. But it’s taken until today for the government to offer any real clarity as to the structure and plans for the new fund.)

Anyway, Angola is Africa’s second biggest oil producer, so it’s probably wise the country start developing some real policies for managing its oil wealth. And here’s what we now know about the new SWF:

  • The FSDAE will, apparently, have $5 billion in assets under management.
  • While the formal investment policy has not been announced, news reports suggest that the fund will focus its investments in agriculture, infrastructure, hotels, and “other high growth projects”.
  • The fund will not focus on stabilization of oil revenues but will instead focus on diversifying the economy away from oil independence.
  • There will be a three-member board led by Armando Manuel, who is an adviser to President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.
  • The president’s son (!) will also sit on the three-person Board. (Cue eyebrows.) 
  • The third member of the Board has not yet been named.
  • There will also be an independent advisory council, which will include the ministers of finance, economy, planning and the governor of Angola’s central bank.
So, I'll be blunt here: I’m not sure how I feel about this Board or the “independent” advisory council. As frequent readers know, I think the Board is fundamental to the success of these funds. And I fear that Angola's new Board may not be sufficiently independent and commercially focused to drive the fund in the directions it will need to... but I sincerely hope I'm wrong.