"Angola negotiated a financial aid pact with the IMF, which it complied to the letter, completely, in such a way that they are pre-negotiating a second package, and I say pre-negotiating because as there are elections in August, until then the effort of the executive Angola is not a financial package that will force some difficulties, such as the price of fuel, which is an issue on the table with the IMF", said the delegate of the Agência para o Investimento e Comércio Externo de Portugal (AICEP) in Luanda.
In the opening speech of the webinar on "Angola: uma nova abordagem", organized by AEP - Associação Empresarial de Portugal, AICEP and KPMG Portugal, Miguel Fontoura added: "When they sign the [financial aid] package, this topic will be on the table and more, they will have to reduce fuel subsidies, and therefore, understandably, do not want to do so before the elections".
According to Miguel Fontoura to businessmen, "the question is not when, it is if, and will they do it, and this is a very healthy sign that the International Monetary Fund [IMF] believes in the solvency and viability of the Angolan economy" .
In the speech, the official pointed out the importance of Angola for national exports, noting that it was already the fifth largest destination for Portuguese exports and the first outside the EU, and that although having lost value due to the recession of recent years, it continues to be an important market, ranking ninth among customers in Portugal.
"We export more than twice as much to Angola as to Scandinavia, Angola is the ninth destination country for exports, and for us it is a strategic desideratum, where the companies that arrive and those that are in the market consider it strategic", said Miguel Fontoura.
The more than 1200 Portuguese companies in Angola "reduced the number of expatriates, but they did not leave the market and did not stop believing in the market", he stressed.
Commenting on Angola's economic evolution, the official said that the country "turned the page" already last year, when it grew 0.7 percent, and considered that this economic growth, the first since 2016, is still not enough, but it is already is a good indicator.
"Angola grew by 0.7 percent in 2021 and is expected to grow by more than 2 percent this year, it is not yet the growth that Angola needs, but it is growth after five years of recession, and this is extremely important," he said.
In his speech, Miguel Fontoura also stressed that the high price of a barrel, above 100 dollars, will lead to a budget surplus compared to the 35 dollars foreseen in Angola's Budget for this year, "and this is excellent news for the recapitalization of public companies and to give the Government financial leeway", which can be positive for Portuguese companies that have Angolan public companies as their clients.
There is, he concluded, "moderate confidence on the part of Portuguese companies in the Angolan economy in the coming years", recommending that entrepreneurs invest in other sectors of the economy: "The emphasis of growth is not only on the extractive industry, but also on economic diversification, an effort that Angola is taking very seriously".
