By Henrique Almeida LUANDA (Reuters) - Angola owes about $2 billion in late payments to building companies hired to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by the civil war, the country's finance minister said on Tuesday. Eduardo Severim de Morais told Reuters an increase in the international price of oil would enable his government to repay the debt by the end of the year. Angola rivals Nigeria as Africa's biggest oil producer. Portuguese building companies Mota Engil and Teixeira Duarte as well as Brazil's Odebrecht have been hired by the Angolan government to rebuild roads, bridges and other infrastructure. "In the building sector there are around $2 billion in late payments," he said in an interview. Asked when the government would pay its debt, he said: "This year. We don't want to extend this debt until next year." Severim de Morais said the state had delayed payments to some of these building companies since December 2008 but added that they had remained committed to their work in Angola. "There are some delays in the construction work but there were no deadlocks," he said. "As state revenues (from oil exports) increase we will make good on these payments." Angola, dependent on oil exports for 90 percent of its income, suffered from a sharp drop in oil prices last year. Oil prices have now recently risen to $65 per barrel, almost double the low of 2008. The drop in oil prices has weighed on Angola's foreign currency reserves. In the January-to-May period, Angola's foreign exchange reserves plunged 30 percent to $12.2 billion. Severim de Morais said foreign exchange reserves remained at around $12.2 or $12.3 billion. | 
