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There was no regard for history or human rights. Ten minutes later Coulibaly returned with another man, who was tall and dressed in a loose-fitting white shirt with black trousers. Photo by: Claudio Silva. Rather than bringing large swathes of the population out of poverty, economic growth in Angola served to exacerbate inequality and entrench rampant corruption. I kept walking down the street until I was approached by another gentleman who quoted friendlier rates. Infant mortality rate is among the top three highest in the world, and there are perennial yellow fever outbreaks. Inflation has increased by over 20 percent, the supply of foreign currency has dried up, and a full-blown economic crisis is underway. Photo by: David Stanley. I was in the back room of a small, makeshift shop selling smartphones, USB drives, and headphones, waiting for a black market currency dealer. It is home to the largest mosque in Angola, which is a predominantly Christian country. We went past the other kinguilas, past a market selling halal meat, and away from the main avenue and down a side street with houses and shops on both sides. Obtaining foreign currency was the easiest thing: you could just walk into any bank and exchange your Kwanzas. The country, in south-west Africa, is blessed with countless natural resources, a rich culture, and a bloody history. So most people have only one option: exchanging their Kwanzas on the black market. More Guides.{/INSERTKEYS}{/PARAGRAPH} Currency exchange houses proliferated throughout the city and dollars were in plentiful supply, bolstered by billion dollar payments from oil giants such as Exxon, Total, and BP. There is a lot of money in Angola. Today, the Kwanza was trading at to the dollar on the black market. Others arrived on foot, haggled on the street, and were then led into small electronics shops. Kinguilas were blamed for the sudden decline in the value of our national currency. As the price of oil has dramatically decreased over the last couple of years, so too has the infamous Angolan swagger. I can make enough to send back to my family. Most people—including local economists—blame bank officials, while others swear that foreign currency is flowing straight from the Central Bank on to the streets. Children who were studying abroad were being forced to come back home. The eldest daughter of President, Isabel dos Santos, is not only the richest person in the country but also the richest woman in Africa. Never mind that there was nowhere else to get dollars. Poorer residents were bussed to the outskirts of the city and forced to live in tents. One man goes in search of foreign currency in a bust economy I sat on a wooden stool and surveyed my tight surroundings. They own everything. His Portuguese was poor, and my French is virtually non-existent, but with a few smiles, hand gestures, and Google Translate, we struck up a conversation. Black humor is never lacking in Angola. Coulibaly checked I had the Kwanzas I promised, and that I agreed to the most recent rate hike. He has been living in Luanda for almost a year. A few weeks later, the price of foreign currency reached an all time high: more than Kwanzas to the dollar. Join our newsletter to get exclusives on where our correspondents travel, what they eat, where they stay. Free to sign up. Because the government has never had to rely on taxes or actually running the country to keep power and earn votes, its management of the windfall of oil money has been shambolic. Many migrants from Mali and Senegal have found profitable livelihoods as kinguilas, exchanging currency on the black market. Jun 07 Author: Claudio Silva ,. Angola weathered 27 years of brutal civil war before peace finally came in High international oil prices during the last decade, coupled with increasing oil production, made Angola one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, surpassing even China in Back then, foreign currency was abundant. He abandoned his native Mali to try his luck here. Like it was legal. Featured City Guides. During the boom, Luanda resembled a massive construction site, with dozens of shiny glass and steel skyscrapers popping up all over the city, built in a frenzied bid to meet demand for luxury apartments and premium office space. We went into the makeshift phone shop, he greeted the shop owner in Bambara, then led me to the cramped room in the back. Well-off citizens go to neighboring Namibia for medical care rather than risk a visit to public hospitals here. Families send their children to study abroad. There are rumors that wealthy generals with links to private Angolan banks were in on the racket. Hospitals ran out of syringes, gloves and eventually, beds. I played it cool as they quoted astronomical rates between and Kwanzas to the dollar, several times more than the official rate of Kwanzas. It was becoming prohibitively expensive to exchange them, and the result was devastating. He had wads of hundred dollar bills stuffed in his pockets. {PARAGRAPH}{INSERTKEYS}I sat on a wooden stool and surveyed my tight surroundings. Entire neighborhoods were bulldozed in the middle of the night. Coulibaly was quite circumspect about the subject. At the height of the latest outbreak, dozens of people were dying every day. The government announced a series of new measures to try to curb the sale of dollars on the black market, and promptly arrested four kinguilas, confiscating their cash. The Kwanza has plummeted in value. Coulibaly brought out a calculator, asked for my Kwanzas and handed me a few crisp bills. People started joking—black humor is never lacking in Angola—that it was the absolute worst time to get sick, as no one could afford to leave the country to get to a good hospital. The government has been in power since independence and has little incentive to govern for the people, its socialist roots long ago forgotten. Both sending your kids to study abroad and getting medical check-ups in other countries require one thing: foreign currency. A short while later, someone would show up, and get in the idling car, and get out again after a few minutes. As I sat there, I wondered how exactly many of the citizens of what was once one of the fastest growing economies in the world ended up having to exchange money this way, as if we were buying illegal drugs. People and cars, from all walks of life, were coming into the neighborhood. The boom ended before the mall could open. In the middle of the street. Right there. It was done. The official rate was Kwanzas. Angola spends the least among its continental neighbors on health and education instead, the state has invested heavily in defense and security. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, artisanal mining is a remnant of the once-booming gem industry. We reached a deal and I promised I would return with cash the next day, once I was happy with the rate and for safety reasons. Then he made a call, speaking softly into his phone, hung up, and told me to follow him. The million dollar question here is how Coulibaly and the hundreds of other kinguilas around Luanda get their hands on to foreign currency, given that even banks are having trouble doing this.