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Alves da Rocha says Angola is in “social recession” despite economic improvements

Angola is experiencing a situation of "social recession", with a high poverty rate, which the prospects for economic growth will have difficulty reversing, said economist Alves da Rocha.

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The director of the Center for Scientific Research Studies (CEIC) at the Catholic University of Angola said that the poverty rate is around 45 percent of the population, and that "multidimensional poverty", a concept that encompasses issues such as education, housing and health , is even higher, around 54 percent.

"We live here (...) a situation of social recession", acknowledged Alves da Rocha, during the Angola Forum, organized by videoconference by the Royal Institute of International Relations (Chatham House) and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Foundation.

After a "deep economic crisis" between 2015 and 2021 due to the drop in oil prices and the covid-19 pandemic, Rocha referred to the average forecasts of international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of economic growth of 3. 5 percent between 2023 and 2027 for the country.

However, he warned that "these growth dynamics are insufficient to promote substantial improvements in the living conditions of the population".

In addition to the problems of loss of purchasing power and unemployment, the researcher pointed to the need to attract private investment and to invest in the areas of education and health, which he considered important for the diversification of the economy.

"Our education levels are extremely low and this also explains the reduced value of the national average wage: you cannot pay a higher wage if labor productivity is reduced", he concluded.

Economist Pietro Toigo, representative of the African Development Bank (ADB) in Angola, agreed, arguing that "the battle for Angola's prosperity will probably be fought in the labor market", as "a motor for the dissemination of prosperity and the elimination of inequality ".

Toigo sees a "very significant potential return on investment in education and specifically vocational training".

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