A few years ago, Luanda, the capital of Angola, was on every ambitious investor’s lips . With large infrastructure and housing projects rapidly changing its appearance, the city seemed to be leaving behind the country’s 27-year civil war. But hopes for renewal are slowly dissipating as the price of the commodity on which Angola’s future was being constructed – oil – steadily declines. Angola is Africa’s second-largest oil producer. It is one of the countries that have been hardest hit by the fall in oil prices. The oil crash forced Angola to slash its 2015 budget by US$17 billion (a 25% reduction ). Construction companies are having difficulties paying their workers, and the Angolan central bank has devalued the currency , the kwanza. Construction threatens to screech to a halt. The fantasy built on oil is crumbling, showing that its benefits were barely felt outside privileged sites of elite […]