Angola debt bill has no ratings impact -Fitch

LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) - Angola's unexpected $9 billion debt bill to foreign building firms will not affect its B+ rating as some payment arrears were expected and the country's overall debt burden is low, ratings agency Fitch said on Thursday.

"At the time of the budget, contractor arrears were $5 billion or around 7 percent of GDP and the government planned to pay them down using cash balances, receivables -- money owed to the government by (state oil firm) Sonangol -- securitisation of the debt and loans from commercial banks," Fitch analyst Veronica Kalema told Reuters.

"As the amount is now higher, the portion that the government will have to borrow will be higher, but debt ratios are still relatively low. There is no impact on the rating."

Angola gained its first ratings from all three major ratings agencies earlier this year. It raised the size of the construction debt earlier this week.

(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; editing by John Stonestreet)