According to the administrator of the Institute for the Management of State Assets and Participations (IGAPE), Raimundo Santa Rosa, the impact of this measure in terms of gains will not be reflected this year.
"The study on the reduction of the IRT is on the table. We know that it is a form of financial relief. The reduction of the IRT frees up more money for the employee, if he earned 100 thousand kwanzas and deducted 20 thousand of IRT, if he starts to deduct 10 thousand kwanzas, my salary goes up from 80 thousand kwanzas to 90 thousand kwanzas. Either that way or a salary increase", he said.
For the administrator of IGAPE, the salary increase option is not the most viable, "it is very dangerous", because it can cause an increase in inflation.
"Wages are increased by 100, prices rise to 200, nothing is done, so it's better to focus on increasing production so that we can produce what we need", he said.
Raimundo Santa Rosa pointed out that the expected inflation for this year was around 13 percent, but with this measure of reduction in the fuel subsidy, "a peak of another 2 percent to 3 percent" can be expected.
"But other forces may be working to increase inflation, such as the exchange rate, which does not come from the measure of removing subsidies", he stressed.
The Government started the process of reducing the subsidy to fuel subsidies, a measure that had been studying since 2018, starting with the increase in the price of gasoline, which went from 160 kwanzas/liter to 300 kwanzas/liter, without altering, for the time being, the commercial value of other petroleum derivatives.
"The price is at 300 kwanzas and it is not yet the market price, the cost of gasoline that the State is assuming until today remains at 462 (kwanzas) until the last publication of June, market price for the Angolan reality, which means that we are still bearing 170 kwanzas per liter for everyone", said the head of IGAPE at a meeting held on Wednesday with journalists for clarification and collection of contributions.
To mitigate this reduction in the gasoline subsidy, the Government exempted taxi drivers, motorcycle taxi drivers, artisanal fishing and agriculture from the increase.
Raimundo Santa Rosa stressed that the State continues to bear the entire difference in the price of diesel, from 135 kwanzas to close to 500 kwanzas, that is, the market price, also maintaining the price of domestic gas at 100 kwanzas per kilogram, when the price market price is 490 kwanzas, as well as for lighting oil with a fixed price of 70 kwanzas compared to a market price of 476 kwanzas.
