João Luís Traça was commenting on the data from the Managers' Barometer report, which addresses the concerns of businesspeople in Angola and revealed that exports of goods from Portugal to Angola fell by 23.4 percent between January and September, taking the country from 9th to 13th place for Portuguese sales abroad.
“This may be happening because other countries are being more efficient and Angola's current situation is very different. Angola probably has the conditions for many Portuguese companies to start producing in Angola instead of exporting from Portugal and if they do this it will probably reduce the export indicator and increase the investment indicator,” he said.
He also added that Angola is managing to produce a range of products, which means that “it will probably need to import different products from those it previously imported from Portugal,” he added.
Regarding the results of the study, which show cautious optimism among businesspeople operating in Angola, he considered it natural that they do not have the same optimism or appetite for investment as they would in other contexts, given the high inflation rate, low economic growth and shortage of foreign currency.
However, “only a very small number of companies have expressed an interest in disinvesting, laying off workers or closing production lines. This means that the companies that are here are here to stay and continue to believe in Angola”.
The leader of CCIPA said that the qualification of Angolan workers is essential for companies, which must invest in training.
“We will not be able to qualify people by waiting for the government to suddenly have the universities and institutes needed to train everyone. All companies must train, instead of [just] some (...), while others think it is not worth it. As long as they are divided, we will be losing efficiency in the market”, the official pointed out.
