Akinwumi Adesiana, who was speaking after a meeting with the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, said that the situation of young people is a concern for the Head of State, and explained that the aim of the bank would be to help young people to undertake 'startups', financial technology companies, and digital technology "in order to raise the standard of living of the population".
In this meeting, preceded by a meeting with the Minister of Planning, Victor Hugo Guilherme, and the Minister of Finance, Vera Daves de Sousa, the AfDB assured the Head of State that it would continue to support projects in the areas of agriculture and energy, as well as the fisheries and industrial sectors and all areas aimed at the country's development.
According to Akinwumi Adesina, in the agricultural sector, the AfDB is committed to supporting the Angolan government with the production of cereals, namely corn, wheat and rice, and to reinforcing its support in the Lobito Corridor with an investment of 500 million dollars.
"The government has already invested more than two billion dollars and the AfDB intends to support this project [Lobito Corridor] as we have already done on the Zambian side, ensuring that this connection exists", he stressed.
In the area of energy, he added that Angola already produces around 5.2 megawatts of energy, but wastes around 1.5 megawatts and work is needed to ensure that this energy reaches consumers.
The AfDB president said that he gave João Lourenço the guarantee that the bank will continue to support, mainly the construction of transmission and transport lines [of energy] "that can connect to neighbouring countries, and consequently with the SADC [Southern African Development Community] network through the export of energy to Zambia and Namibia", he said.
Adesina stressed that he also discussed with João Lourenço the issue of the Moçâmedes Corridor, in the province of Namibe, "a very important area", where he also assured that the AfDB can provide support.
The AfDB president also congratulated the President of the Republic and the Government of Angola "for the quality and resilience of the Angolan economy", whose growth forecast for this year is 2.7 percent and for next year 4.2 percent, and for its performance in several macroeconomic areas.
"The Angolan Government is doing a great job in this regard, despite the difficult international situation", he said.
He highlighted that the debt ratio in previous years was around 80 percent and this year it fell to around 50 percent, declaring that "Angola is creating a very solid fiscal sector".
Still on the subject of the economy, he referred to the fact that Angola has net international reserves of around 14.5 billion dollars, with an import coverage of 7.5 months, better than "the standard established by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which is five months", he stressed.
Akinwumi Adesina congratulated President João Lourenço on his election as the next president of the African Union, as it is the largest political forum on the continent, as well as "for his leadership and diplomatic efforts in the search for peace and stability on the continent, especially in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo".
"Therefore, we are quite confident in the country, the institutions and the Government", he stressed.
Since the start of its operations in Angola in 1980, the African Development Bank Group has approved a total of more than 3 billion dollars for development projects in the country.
