In a meeting with journalists, Juan Carlos Alvarez said that the BM is currently a key development partner for Angola and has been increasing trust and commitment between the financial institution and the government.
The current portfolio includes 15 national and two regional projects totaling US$3,673 million, of which US$3,588 million is allocated to national projects.
The World Bank is a financial institution with 189 member states that provides loans to developing countries, as well as training and technical assistance in various sectors.
The ongoing projects finance areas such as health, education, water, energy, agriculture, social protection, statistics and governance and have different execution deadlines, with disbursement normally made over five years.
Later this month, said Juan Carlos, two new projects will be presented to the World Bank, one for secondary cities and the other for digital access.
The priority areas, he explained, are defined with the Government within the framework of the partnership it maintains with the BM and taking into account the positive contributions that the institution can bring to the country's development.
The head of the World Bank considered that "Angola is on the right path", but it still has to implement many reforms to create a favorable environment for macroeconomic development in the country and strengthen the development of human capital. Investing more in health and education "is essential", he highlighted, noting that there are 1.3 million more people every year.
This means a great potential for human capital, in which we will have to invest now so that these children who will be part of the workforce will "contribute positively to the country's development in 20 years' time".
Regarding the execution of ongoing projects, Juan Carlos Alvarez says that in only two cases was it considered unsatisfactory - the Girls' Empowerment Project and the Electrical Sector Improvement Project.
"We will try to move these two projects from unsatisfactory to satisfactory now that the fiscal year is starting [July 1]," he said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance will no longer be the main interlocutor of the World Bank in Angola, passing the role until now assumed by Vera Daves to the Minister of Economy and Planning, Victor Hugo Guilherme.
