Angola’s credit-rating outlook was cut to negative by Standard & Poor’s, which predicted the country’s fiscal deficit will widen in the face of lower oil prices. S&P affirmed Angola’s B+ rating, four steps below investment grade, the company said in a statement on Friday. “The negative outlook indicates that we could lower our long-term rating on Angola if the country’s external or fiscal positions continue to deteriorate over the next year,” S&P said. Angola, Africa’s largest crude producer after Nigeria, relies on the fuel to generate about 70 percent of taxes and 95 percent of export income. As the price of oil plunged more than 50 percent in the past 12 months, the government slashed this year’s budget by a quarter, cut fuel subsidies and froze hiring. Government spending accounted for more than a third of Angola’s $129 billion gross domestic product in 2014.