The implementation of contracts signed under the Public Investment Programme whose source of funding has not been secured has been suspended in Angola, the country’s Minister of Finance, Vera Daves de Sousa ruled on Tuesday.
The minister also suspended the execution of contracts of a non-priority or structural nature as part of Expenditure to Support Development without guaranteed funding.
In the document, Daves directs the budget units to set aside available funding in the “Goods and Services” category for the payment of current priority and essential contracts and the suspension of “all others.”
As part of these measures, the budget units should communicate to their suppliers and competitors/candidates the decision to suspend contracts and ongoing procedures, based on the low price of oil and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public finances.
This circular does not apply to contracts and procedures in the health, education and social action sectors, or to those related to logistical supply, sanitation and others whose source of funding has been previously secured.
The transitional measures in response to the fall in the price of oil and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, are legally based on Presidential Decree no. 96/20, of 9 April, and, in the framework of public procurement, the declaration of a state of emergency, as a result of COVID-19, is considered a case of force majeure, thus allowing a temporary cessation of obligations in the execution of contracts.
Source: Macauhub
