Governor José de Lima Massano of the Angolan central bank has said the bank is committed to lowering the annual rate of consumer price inflation to below 10 percent by 2022, Bloomberg reports.

The news agency quotes Mr Massano as saying: “If we don’t manage to bring stability in terms of inflation, foreign exchange, at the end of the day we’re not building the infrastructure to promote sustainable growth.”

The report says the Angolan economy has been shrinking for three years, yet the annual rate of consumer price inflation was 17.9 percent in August.

Despite its determination to slow inflation, the bank also hopes to cut interest rates, the report quotes Mr Massano as saying.

“We believe there is room to bring interest rates down so that we give a little more chance for businesses to survive,” he said.

The main rate of interest is now 15.5 percent. The next rate-setting meeting of the central bank is on Monday, Bloomberg says.