According to a report by Human Rights Watch, more than $4 billion in oil revenue collected by the government of Angola simply disappeared between 1997 and 2002. That is an amount equal to the same amount Angola spent on all state-funded social programs during the same period of time and is equivalent to 9.2 percent of the country’s annual GDP.
The Angolan government denied the Human Rights Watch claims, saying that the charges were based on “fantasy and imagination.”
The Angolan government itself, however, made it difficult to distinguish between fantasy and reality with the passage of three laws intended to restrict the flow of information about government activities, including provisions that allow the state to define information about economic activities as state secrets. It also threatened companies that publicly discussed the extent of their oil activities in Angola.
Angola, of course, experience chronic food shortages which require international aid to alleviate.
Sources:
Some Transparency, No Accountability: The Use of Oil Revenue in Angola and Its Impact on Human Rights. Human Rights Watch, 2004.
$4.2 Billion In Oil Revenue Missing In Angola, Rights Group Says. U.N. Wire, January 14, 2004.