Angola’s volume of imports dropped from USD 4.2 billion to USD 1.4 billion in the last five years, the minister of Economy and Planning, Mário Caetano João, has said.
Mário Caetano João said that the decrease owed to the implementation of the Production Support, Export Diversification and Import Substitution Programme (PRODESI).
The official, who was speaking at the 1st Edition of CaféCIPRA, said that the amount was spent on five products, such as rice with USD 216.97 million, chicken USD 200.50 million, cooking oil USD130.19 million, palm oil USD 119.29 million and sugar USD 105 million.
“Imports of basic foodstuffs have fallen in recent years, with an accumulated reduction of around 30 percent,” said the minister, adding that in 2021 the country spent USD 1.361 billion on food imports.
Macro-economic gains
In the context of macro-economic gains, the official highlighted the diversification of the economy, the implementation of the Privatization Programme (PROPRIV), and the revision of the Private Investment Law.
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The minister also spoke, among others, of the reform of the tax system (implementation of VAT), greater financing for the productive sector of the real economy, as well as the reversal of the trajectory of successive deficits in fiscal balances (primary and global).
The strategy resulted in the reduction of the public debt stock from USD 80 billion, in 2017, to USD 70 billion, in 2021, in addition to the liberalisation and stabilisation of the exchange rate, reduction of the gap between the informal and formal market rates of 159 percent in 2017 to less than 4 percent in 2021.
Exports with PRODESI
In contrast, the minister put the PRODESI’s exports at around USD 66 million. The exports benefited five countries, such as Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia, Cameroon and Portugal.
Among the exported products, he highlighted cement, beer, glass packaging, bananas, juices and soft drinks.
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As for the Deutsche Bank (Germany) credit line, without specifying the amount, he announced that recently ten new national projects were approved and are awaiting financial disbursement, thus joining the Leonor Carrinho group, then the only beneficiary of this credit line for the private sector.
New markets for export
At the meeting, Victor Fernandes, minister of Industry and Commerce, said that Angola can and should seek new markets for its exports, particularly in Africa, which has around 1.4 billion consumers.
In his speech, the official said that there will be greater flexibility in visas for Angola, in particular for investors.
CaféCIPRA is an open, direct and not moderated dialogue gathering government officials and representatives of civil society.
