The position was expressed on Friday by the leader of the parliamentary group of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), Liberty Chiaka, when he made the political declaration on the occasion of the general discussion and approval of the proposal for the General Budget of State (OGE) 2023, in parliament.
"The Government wasted a decade of oil and revenue 'boom', as the structure of the General State Budget was and is markedly focused on case-by-case management", said Liberty Chiaka.
According to the deputy, Angola needs an ambitious budget to leverage sustainable development, "a budget without non-essential expenses, with less money for travel, more money for scientific research, more money for the economy, more money for job creation and more money for better wages for Angolan workers".
In his speech, the president of the UNITA bench stressed that covid-19 has served the Government as a justification for the existing difficulties, but does not prevent it from "offering works to friends, buying buildings from comrades and offering luxurious apartments to judges".
"UNITA's parliamentary group defends a budget that is friendly to the stability of families, friendly to growth and development, promoting employment and high-income companies", he underlined.
According to the parliamentary group of the largest opposition party, "the Government has had the money to persecute opponents, activists and journalists, but has not had the money to subsidize medicines against malaria, diabetes and high blood pressure".
"If the budget does not respond, does not meet and does not safeguard the main claims of teachers, nurses, doctors, justice officials, police and military, it does not serve the national interests," he said.
On public debt, "a large part of it false", the UNITA parliamentary group stressed that "it will continue to absorb most of the OGE with an amount greater than 45 percent".
"Which makes us question its sustainability, especially since the President of the Republic does not mind contracting more debts, outside the approval of the OGE-2023", he stressed.
Liberty Chiaka stated that "a budget that allocates more money to the payment of hidden debts, false debts and uncertified debts than to health, education, social security, agriculture and industry cannot have our favorable vote".
For the UNITA parliamentary group, the diversification of the economy is slow to show positive signs and Angola's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) continues to be supported by oil revenues, including gas and a little diamonds.
"It means to say that our economy is not going beyond the collection phase. We continue to live from the extraction of resources, instead of moving to the industrialization phase, creating added value with the transformation of raw materials, into finished and semi-finished products", said.
The OGE 2023 estimates revenues and expenses of 20.1 billion kwanzas and is prepared based on the average price of a barrel of oil of 75 dollars.
