"We are together with the government of Angola for what we call the reperfiling of debt, that is, managing the debt so that it is sustainable," said Jean-Christophe Carret as he left a meeting in Luanda with the Minister of State for the Social Area, Carolina Cerqueira, and the Minister of Finance, Vera Daves.
He stressed that both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were part of the discussions that led to the G20 debt suspension initiative.
The World Bank's new regional director for Africa began his first mission to Angola on Monday, having planned several meetings with ministerial departments with the aim of reviewing the various projects developed in partnership with the institution.
On the same occasion, Vera Daves explained that the aim of the meetings is to bring the new representative up to date with the projects in progress and to make known the main constraints associated with them and what is the vision of the future for the partnership between the Government of Angola and the World Bank.
"The meetings have gone well and, at the end of the cycle, a balance sheet will be made to systematize everything that was discussed and prepare the strategy of the future for cooperation," she stressed.
Jean-Christophe Carret said that "the most important thing" is to try to understand how the World Bank can be a partner of the Angolan executive to face the challenges, particularly in the social sectors: education, health and social protection, topics that were discussed this Tuesday with Minister Carolina Cerqueira.
"We think these are important sectors especially in the context of the pandemic. People, especially the poorest need to be protected, we need to protect their lives and their ways of life," she said.
The World Bank official highlighted the Kwenda social protection program, under which money is transferred to the most vulnerable families and is financed with 273 million euros, the education of girls and the problems of malnutrition.
The World Bank representative replaces Abdoulaye Seck and is now responsible for Angola, Sao Tome and Principe, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
