Many countries in Africa conduct general elections regularly. Electoral management bodies have the responsibility to ensure free and fair elections. But what are their score cards so far?

Angola has halved its 2016 economic growth forecast and slashed government spending as lower oil prices hammer state revenues in Africa's largest crude exporter, the finance ministry said on Monday.

New Sonangol chief executive Isabel dos Santos has suspended all talks relating to the sale of assets belonging to the Angolan state oil firm and stripped its internal legal department of most of its powers, a statement said.

Angola's central bank said on Tuesday it will sanction seven financial institutions for failing to comply with foreign exchange rules, but did not state the specific breaches or the sanctions it would take.

Angola needs to maintain fiscal prudence in the run-up to the 2017 elections, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) team said on Tuesday after a two-week visit to the oil producing country.

Angolan state energy giant Sonangol is spinning off non-core investments in areas such as banking and real estate into a separate fund to allow it to focus exclusively on oil, says new CEO Isabel dos Santos.

Angola's President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has been accused of building a monarchy to rule over Angola even after his reign.

A team from the International Monetary Fund is visiting Angola to negotiate a loan facility after lower oil prices hammered the finances of Africa's second largest crude exporter, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday.

The main findings released on World Press Freedom showed that a majority of African citizens supported the media's "watchdog" role, saw the media as effective in revealing government mistakes and corruption, and affirmed that journalists "rarely" or "never" abuse their freedom by publishing lies.

Angola needs to fight money laundering and financing terrorism by focussing on ethics and morality in its banking sector the central bank's governor, Valter Filipe da Silva, said.

Angola, Africa's second largest oil exporter, will restructure state firm Sonangol, the oil ministry announced on Wednesday, aiming to "increase efficiency and profitability".

Angola has opened an investigation into the conduct of the management at the local unit of failed Portuguese bank Banco Espirito Santo, Attorney General Joao Maria de Sousa said on Wednesday.

The daughter of Angola's president accused Portugal's government on Tuesday of making an "unprecedented and clearly partial" decision in changing a law on shareholder voting rights that helped Spain's Caixabank make a bid for Banco BPI this week.

Angola will begin loan negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this month as lower oil prices hammer the finances of Africa's second-largest crude exporter, the Finance Ministry has said.

While commodity exporters will feel the pinch from China's recent economic slowdown, the price collapse may help with the continent's much-needed economic transformation.

Angola has found itself with a dwindling amount of crude to sell as more of its oil flows to China for debt repayment, leaving little revenue for anything from oil sector development to health care in one of Africa's largest oil exporting nations.

With the oil price plummeting, lawyers caught up with the big boys while smaller players realised they'd been taken for a ride.

The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday it stands ready to help sub-Saharan Africa's oil exporters cope with plunging crude prices and growing fiscal pressures but has not received any new funding requests from the region.

Nigeria and Angola, Africa's two biggest oil producers, are both in talks with the World Bank about support to help cope with low crude prices, weakening currencies and strained public finances.

Zimbabwe is planning an ambitious international diamond bourse expected to attract traders from all over the world, as the southern African nation hopes to harness the mineral's revenue in an effort to shore up its faltering economy.