LUANDA, July 19 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank and the Angolan government reached a 280-million-U.S.-dollar deal here Thursday to benefit the water and agricultural sectors.

Finance Minister Archer Mangueira, the president of the Credit Guarantee Fund, Joao Julio Fernandes, and the World Bank representative in Angola, Sao Tome and Principe Oliver Lambert signed the deal.

Mangueira said the deal is expected to boost the Angolan economy as a major step to diversify the economy as was laid out in the National Development Plan (NDP) for 2018-2022.

The Angolan official said that the national Commercial Agriculture Development Project is part of a broader program supported by 100 million U.S. dollars' worth of funding from the French Development Agency.

Meanwhile, the World Bank representative said that the funding will contribute to increasing coverage of the water supply in nine cities across the country, namely Malange, Lubango, Ndalatando, Dundo, Luena, Mocamedes, Kuito, Huambo and Uige.

Altogether 1.2 million people will benefit from the improved public water services.

Lambert said that the deal will also strengthen the capacity building of local water and sanitation companies.?