The said recommendations are contained in the draft resolution approving the General State Budget (OGE) 2023 presented this Monday to the plenary of the National Assembly (parliament) during the final and global voting session of the OGE for this year.
In the field of economy, planning and finance, the deputies defend the inclusion in the OGE proposal for the next years of a report with detailed information on each project, showing its total value and source of financing.
The level of physical and financial execution, impact value for the year and the residual value of each project should also be included in the report, they recommend, also suggesting that in the coming financial years, within the scope of the financial deconcentration process, "be clarified" and presented the origin of local tax revenues.
They also recommend that “fast measures” be adopted so that the General Tax Administration meets the deadline for refunding the Value Added Tax (VAT) and that the possibility of reducing the VAT rate from 7 percent to 5 percent be studied. “for the entire productive sector”.
Greater rigor in the contracting and certification of public debt is also among the recommendations of the deputies, who argue that the process of regularizing the payment of debts "should prioritize" those that are in arrears to small and medium-sized companies.
“That the legal framework on the Self-invoicing Legal Regime be reviewed, bearing in mind that Presidential Decree No. fines to taxpayers as a result of this legal void”, they note.
In the resolution, presented before the final vote on the OGE 2023, which passed overall with 124 votes in favour, 86 votes against and no abstentions, the deputies also warned the authorities of the risk of over-indebtedness “due to the rise in interest rates in the international financial market”.
In the field of health, the parliamentarians recommended increasing funds for the National Institute for the Fight against Cancer, "due to the fact that the number of cases is increasing and most of them converge on the province of Luanda for treatment".
“That, by rehandling, funds be reinforced for the fight against malaria, trypanosomiasis, tuberculosis, HIV, leprosy and chronic non-communicable diseases, community health program, vaccination program and for neglected tropical diseases”, they refer in the resolution presented by deputy Joaquim from Almeida.
They also ask the authorities to “better balance” the proposals in the claim books of union bodies in the education sector, such as Sinprof (National Union of Teachers) and Sinptenu (Union of Teachers and Technicians of Non-University Education), “in order to way to avoid the constant strikes of its professionals”.
Regarding the social action component, the deputies recommend that the Kwenda Program (monetary transfer program for the most vulnerable populations) be “more inclusive”, with priority for “people with disabilities and with a marked degree of vulnerability” and that, “ additionally, programs should be developed that involve, in addition to income transfer, the development of micro projects with a training and qualification component”.
The need to reinforce the funds allocated to the defense and security sector, "to better equip" the sector with technical and technological means, is also among the recommendations of the deputies to the executive.
They also suggest that this year "the merit pension of former combatants and veterans of the country be reviewed and updated as soon as the registration process is completed".
The 2023 OGE, approved this Monday as a whole, estimates revenues and sets expenditures of 20.1 billion kwanzas, of which 13.4 billion kwanzas are tax revenue and 6.6 billion kwanzas are financial revenues.
The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the Social Renewal Party (PRS), the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) and the Humanist Party of Angola (PHA) voted in favor of the document. The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) once again disapproved of the OGE.
The State Budget for the 2023 financial year was approved this Monday during the fourth extraordinary plenary meeting of the first legislative session of the V Legislature of the National Assembly of Angola, under the leadership of its president, Carolina Cerqueira.
