In an interview with Lusa news agency, Diamantino Azevedo reiterated his intention to approve the timetable for the dispersion of Sonangol's capital on the stock exchange during the current term of office, but admitted that the process will be staggered.
"We've been saying that we want to take up to 30 percent, but that doesn't mean it's all at once," the government official said, indicating that this process "will be good for Sonangol and for the country" as "it will bring more transparency and greater efficiency".
According to Diamantino Azevedo, in the stock exchange, "actions for employees of Sonangol, actions for Angolans who are interested and for strategic partners who later want to become partners" of the oil company are being considered, which will also be defined in the schedule.
"It means that [the alienation process] will be done in an exponential way - and that is part of the work being done - and then it will be staggered, it depends on various factors and market dynamics," he said.
The minister underlined that the Government is "very committed" to continuing the privatization program of a large part of Sonangol's non-nuclear businesses, although it has been necessary to make some readaptations due to the situation the world is going through, and that steps have been taken in this direction, starting the process discreetly.
"The first measure we took was to free (Sonangol) from the concessionary function, which could create conflicts of interest. We could not take to the stock exchange a company with a concessionary, regulatory and business function", justified the head of the petroleum portfolio.
Another step was to create an "attractive" company that "encourages investment", which involved reducing the number of subsidiaries and selling non-nuclear oil companies.
The dispersion on the stock exchange of 30 percent of Sonangol's capital could yield between 5 and 7 billion euros to the State's coffers, according to estimates presented at the 45th anniversary of the state oil company, last March.
