The Portuguese government's endorsement comes under a contract awarded, in 2019, by the Angolan Ministry of Defence to Mota-Engil to modernise and improve that naval base.
The said contract was approved, in an order signed by João Lourenço, in May 2019. The same happened with the financing agreement between Angola and Caixa Geral de Depósitos, which aims to provide funds to move forward with the project.
"The referred financing agreement is conditioned to the verification of suspensive conditions, including the granting of the guarantee of the Portuguese State to the operation in question," one can read in a resolution of the Portuguese Council of Ministers, published this Tuesday and cited by the same newspaper.
The Portuguese government has now decided to give carte blanche to the Portuguese bank to provide the Angolan Finance Ministry with a guarantee of more than 252 million euros.
According to Jornal de Negócios, the term is 10 years, with repayment to be made in eight years, via 16 equal installments, every six months and successively.
"The export under analysis, in addition to the significant national incorporation, is of strategic interest for the internationalization of the Portuguese economy and for the projection of national civil engineering beyond borders," the document states.
The note also states that the approval of this guarantee is "within the scope of the official support instruments for export credits, made available by the Portuguese state to economic agents, to ensure the credit risks inherent in the export of goods and services of Portuguese origin and to support the internationalization of the Portuguese business fabric.
The state guarantee is to be issued by the Directorate-General of the Treasury and Finance.
The contract awarded to the construction company involves an investment of around 270 million euros. The project to upgrade that infrastructure includes dredging, the construction of a wharf and improvements to the infrastructure at the base.
