Hardly anyone would want to take the job of Angola's minister of finance, Vera Daves. By the end of this year, the country's gigantic amount of debt is expected to grow to over 120% of gross domestic product (GDP).

The government had requested that bondholders grant it a deferral of interest payments until April as it struggled with the dual burdens of fighting the pandemic and a limping economy. But the creditors rejected the request earlier on Friday.

French oil major Total has signed a $14.9 billion senior debt financing agreement for its massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Mozambique, the biggest project financing ever in Africa, it said on Friday.