José de Lima Massano, Minister of State for Economic Coordination, was speaking at the end of a visit to two local industries in the Special Economic Zone (ZEE) of Luanda.
The government official highlighted the "firm commitment" to promoting national production and skills development, stressing that visits to the industrial hub of Viana and to the ZEE serve to understand the difficulties faced by companies and how entrepreneurs overcome them.
Highlighting the "good examples" of industrial units that "are turning around", despite the fact that many raw materials continue to be imported, Lima Massano insisted on the objective of creating more and more suitable situations to boost production capacity and diversify the economy.
Asked about the difficulties in accessing credit that many businessmen complain about, he said that it is "a major concern" and transversal to the productive sector.
The minister justified the precautions on the part of the financial system due to the "risk perspective", taking into account that "the guarantees are not solid" and that the quality of information does not give "due comfort to potential creditors".
"The work that must continue to be done has to do with the justice system itself", stressed the official, adding that the property is not always properly registered, causing disputes over ownership.
"When things don't go well there is immense difficulty in recovering the credit and that calls for some prudence on the side of the lender", he noted.
However, "it is not possible to solve all the difficulties", he said.
In addition to credit, problems such as the supply of water and energy continue to affect Angolan businessmen, but Lima Massano assured that the commitment "is firm", despite the need to "go with realism".
