Angolan government is working with the World Bank to implement the Acceleration of Economic Diversification and Job Creation Project estimated at 300 million US dollars, the national director for Business Environment of the Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP), Laércio Cândido said last week in Luanda.
Speaking at the usual MEP briefing, Candido said the project is expected to promote geographically balanced economic and sustainable transformation driven by the private sector through the development of the Lobito corridor.
The Economy and Planning official explained that the focus on the Lobito corridor emerges due to its strategic importance, and should support the growth of services and financial opportunities for micro, small and medium enterprises.
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According to Candido, the aim is to mobilise capital from the private sector to boost productive infrastructure and push the diversification of the country’s economy.
Cândido explained that the economic diversification will be implemented through the improvement of the business environment, boosting infrastructure capacity and investment to develop value chains.
The aim is to improve investment and trade environment, Candido said, underlining that the MEP will be in all provinces implementing measures to simplify the business environment process, and that along the Lobito corridor there are several public infrastructures that have great potential to boost the private sector, lacking a small investment to make them attractive to the private sector.
The national director for the Business Environment said Angola was one of the first 40 countries the World Bank chose to be part of the ranking of the favourable environment for doing business.
He said that the MEP will deal with microeconomic aspects, service provision by the public administration for companies, workers and the market.
Cândido also said that an action plan for the improvement of the business environment is currently being prepared – a guidance document for actions that contribute to improving the business environment.
“We are preparing the 2023/2024 action plan, which is normally the evaluation period and this document is the result of the actions that we were not able to carry out in the 2022/2023 financial year and has the support of the World Bank,” Candido said.
He added that proposals will be identified for measures to improve the business environment in Angola to be implemented by a multisectoral team.
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It has 11 components that cover the life cycle of a company, which goes from opening to liquidation (insolvency). The components represent important areas for the business environment.
According to the official, the areas range from obtaining credit, where the action plan describes or determines activities leading to concrete actions to obtain credit, initiatives to improve the competitive governance of companies and protection of the interest of minority investors.
Candido noted that those initiatives would contribute to cross-border trade, simplification of import and export procedures, simplification of licensing of economic activity, simplification of the process for obtaining electricity, amongst others.
