The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged Angola to brace itself for a tough year ahead as oil prices prepare to take a second series of dives.

“Angola will experience a tough period this year, as a result of the drop in the price of oil per barrel, and the economy need to be adjusted tax-wise,” said Ricardo Velloso Head of IMF team visiting Angola.

This is the fourth visit by an IMF team to Angola in less than a year, during which oil prices have crashed below 50 percent. It’s latest visit was planned to prepare the annual consultation under Article IV of the Establishing Agreement with the IMF, to be held early in the second half of 2015.

Already feeling the heat?

Angola’s cabinet of ministers recently sent a revised 2015 budget to parliament, cutting the oil price benchmark to $40 a barrel, from $81 previously projected. It also slashed $14 billion off its proposed spending plan, the finance ministry said.

In 2008, a drop in oil prices – during the global financial crisis – left Angola with a nearly $7 billion in delayed payments to building companies.

By George Mpofu