Angola is Africa’s second largest oil producer, after Nigeria, producing over 1.9 million barrels per day (bpd). Since the global economic slowdown and the acute oil price drop that triggered domestic fiscal and balance of payments shocks, the country has been gradually recovering. Its GDP growth slightly increased from 3.4% in 2010 to an estimated 3.5% in 2011, driven mainly by rising oil prices and strong non-oil sector growth of 7.7% which helped to offset production problems in the oil sector. The country is expected to record GDP growth rates of 8.2% and 7.1% in 2012 and 2013 respectively. This will be driven mainly by the start of the USD 9 billion Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project and the expected increase of oil production to over 2 million bpd. Inflationary pressures remained high at 14.5% in 2010 and an estimated rate of 13.5% in 2011 mainly as a result of strong growth in domestic demand. However, this is projected to fall to 10.0% and 9.4% in 2012 and 2013 respectively.