According to the CEAST bishops, the suffocation of the national business community, with public debt and galloping taxes, "is leaving our economy at the mercy of foreigners, who manipulate and speculate on the prices of the basic food basket purchased with the country's money".
In the statement presented at a press conference by the spokesperson for the Episcopal Conference of Angola and São Tomé (CEAST), Belmiro Chissenguiti, at the end of the work of their first annual plenary assembly, the bishops also recommend to the Government the "adoption of legal and taxes that protect businesspeople", at the risk of "losing sovereignty in what is vital".
Belmiro Chissengueti recognized, on the other hand, in his intervention, that there has been a great effort by the Government in the construction and repair of roads and other public works.
The bishops also recommended at the end of this plenary, which took place in Malanje, better monitoring of public tenders, especially in the health and education sectors, with the aim of stopping the huge complaints of fraud.
In the religious domain, the conclave approved the theme "Ordained Ministers and Consecrated Life" for the next three-year period 2024-2027, the internal regulations of CEAST, Pastoral Note on Freedom of Sunday Worship and the statutes of the Association of Lay People of Divine Mercy.
They also approved the holding of an expanded permanent council on March 14th in Luanda to approve the "Raccio Fundamentalis of CEAST seminars", the holding of the CEAST synodal assembly on May 7th in Luanda and the membership of the Association of Scouts of Angola to the International Catholic Scouting Conference.
