The minister, speaking during the end-of-year greeting ceremony for the sector he supervises, also said that, this year, the services sector is expected to contribute around 4.6 percent of GDP.
"For the year 2024, we expect that the transformation component, the manufacturing industry, will be superior, for the first time, to the services component. We are predicting that the industrial product, industrial transformation, will be able to contribute to 5,2 percent of the Gross Domestic Product for next year and the services sector will be able to contribute around 4.6," he said.
Still in the field of prospects for 2024, the minister said they are also working on the implementation of new rules that will enable the Strategic Food Reserve to focus on ensuring that "the essentials of this reserve" come from national production: "We are also working to implement, from January 1st, the new rules that will allow the country's Strategic Food Reserve to focus on ensuring that the essentials of this reserve come from our fields, come from our industries".
"This will be, perhaps, the most important element of transformation in the ministry's public activity" in 2024, he added.
The holder of the Industry and Commerce portfolio also gave an overview of 2023, noting that despite the challenges, some government goals were achieved. "The ability to build the food security that our country deserves and the guarantee that the products that our producers, whether in the industrial or agricultural areas, produce every day, are able to reach the table, the homes, the companies of our citizens, of our country", he stated.
Speaking to journalists, Rui Miguêns reiterated his commitment to increasing national production capacity on a large scale.
"We are addressing this concern, ensuring that we continue to implement the Government's policy regarding increasing national production capacity, because it is this large-scale production that will allow for the normal, successive supply and at fair prices of essential goods for our population", he stated.
The minister also said that they are "allowing private operators to invest, to be encouraged, we are creating all the incentives for this purpose, reducing bureaucratic barriers for the work of economic operators and at the same time we are protecting our national industry".
The holder of the Industry and Commerce portfolio also clarified that they do not have "any import ban on any goods", but rather "a policy aimed at giving priority, before any import movement, to giving priority to those goods that we are already capable of to produce in our country and, therefore, imports should always be a way of consolidating any needs that may exist".
"The most important thing and our focus is to increase supply and, naturally, with this increase in supply we hope that prices will stabilize and that this can be a reality in citizens' pockets", he added.
