"I would not say an intervention, but a joint action with the IMF so that reforms are carried out", defended Raimundo Lima in an interview with Lusa, on the eve of the arrival of the President of Brazil, Lula da Silva, for a two-day visit to Angola .
"An urgent revision of the country's stabilization plan is needed, which has begun to be carried out and is already yielding some results, but perhaps the presence of the IMF can give more credibility to the Angolan economy so that the factors that led to the devaluation of the kwanza are circumventable", added the businessman in the interview with Lusa, in which he pointed out the devaluation of the kwanza as a major problem for citizens and businessmen.
"The depreciation of the kwanza does not only affect the segment of investors in Angola, the whole population is suffering, mainly the ones with the lowest income, which have less capacity to defend themselves economically", said Raimundo Lima, recalling that Angola "is going through by a record devaluation, with the kwanza falling 40 percent from May to June, to an unexpected value, and causing ever-increasing inflation".
The Angolan economy "is practically based on oil, and when oil changes levels, the country ends up having less currency, but in this case it was not just oil that went down, production also dropped, which leads to less exports and less inflow of foreign currency, and hence less currency", explained the businessman.
This situation, he continued, originated "a devaluation of the national currency, with very large impacts, because foreign products become more expensive and there is a disarray in the economy, since the basic basket, made up of products such as chicken, rice, pasta and oil, it is bought a lot abroad and it is necessary to produce more domestically and have more controlled prices".
In an interview with Lusa, Raimundo Lima also considered that "the devaluation of the kwanza could affect investors in matters such as return on investment, inflation, exchange rate risks, and this would affect the attraction of new investments".
The President of Brazil is visiting Angola at the end of this week accompanied by six ministers and 170 businessmen, one of the largest delegations ever, announced the Brazilian ambassador in Luanda, considering that this reflects "affection and security" in bilateral relations.
According to diplomat Rafael Vidal, the Economic Forum taking place this Friday, as part of the official visit of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to Angola, will be attended by 500 businessmen, of which 170 come from Brazil.
This is the largest presence of Brazilian businessmen on Lula da Silva's visits abroad, "which is also a reflection not only of the affection that Brazil has for Angola, but also of the security that Brazil has in its relationship with Angola in different domains" , said the diplomat.
