The set of measures of an economic nature that will be adopted by the executive in the short term was announced by the Minister of State and Economic Coordination, José de Lima Massano, who said they were necessary to fulfill the State's responsibilities with "fewer available resources".
Another of the objectives is to make the private sector play a more relevant role in economic growth, observed the minister, in a press conference, at the end of the economic commission of the Council of Ministers.
"We intend to ensure that by the beginning of the year 2024 the most important measures can be adopted", said the minister, explaining that the measures will be aimed at increasing national production, financial support for production, tax relief and simplification measures and improvement of business environment, implying administrative changes.
With regard to national production, Lima Massano stressed that the Strategic Food Reserve (REA) should essentially consist of national production.
To this end, at the beginning of each agricultural campaign, the REA must announce the type of products it will purchase on the domestic market and the respective specifications, as well as the minimum guaranteed price, starting in the 2023/2024 campaign.
A quota regime is also foreseen for products in which there is installed capacity, but its potential has not been reached, such as sugar, for example, which has installed potential to produce up to 60 percent, which is not achieved due to the "strength of imports", said the official.
To guarantee the financial sustainability of the REA, "in addition to the contributions already granted, 50 percent of the fees applied on the importation of food goods will be used", which will be channeled into a fund to boost national production that will be managed by the REA.
As of January 1, 2024, the incorporation of national production will also be mandatory in the contracting of public works and any public initiative projects.
Lima Massano pointed as an example the supply of furniture for the education and health sectors, saying that Angola has the capacity to make desks that do not need to be imported.
Uniforms and equipment for the defense and security forces, education and health must also be purchased locally.
"If we don't have that capacity, we will go abroad, but with the commitment to install it in the country", he added.
As for financial support, the objective is to "align all the financial instruments that the State has with this purpose", continued the minister, stressing that these must be aligned to "enhance, financing, national production", with emphasis on food security.
Instruments such as the Angolan Development Bank (BDA), Agrarian Development Support Fund (FADA) or the Angolan Activo Capital Risk Fund (FACRA) will be restructured or recapitalised, he announced.
"We are also going to move forward with a line of financing for small-scale projects in the industrial sector", continued Lima Massano, explaining that it is essentially about "improvement", to facilitate the emergence of small industries.
The Government also wants to move forward with a co-insurance process for agribusiness, similar to the regime that already exists for the oil sector.
"We are going to boost financial support to community funds that work with cooperatives, reinforcement that will be done through FADA", also said the official, indicating that the risk center for securities guarantees will be operational, an instrument that was made available to the system on the executive's own initiative, but which is not operational.
