The OGE 2024, which sets expenses and estimates global revenues valued at 24.7 billion kwanzas, was approved with 198 votes in favor, from the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), from the Humanist Party of Angola (PHA), 83 votes against the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and an abstention from the PRS-FNLA mixed parliamentary group.
The MPLA, in its declaration of vote presented by deputy Esteves Hilário, justified its favorable vote considering that it was facing the "possible budget" for the current circumstances.
For the deputy from the party in power, anyone who has the vocation to govern "knows that preparing an OGE is like spending a cold night with a short blanket, if you cover your feet you uncover your head and if you cover your head you uncover your feet".
"This is the dilemma of preparing an OGE, we never have an ideal budget, we will always have the possible budget, and this is the possible budget for the current circumstances", he explained.
Florbela Malaquias, deputy and president of the PHA, said, at the time, that her party voted in favor of the OGE proposal for 2024 based on the "meticulous analysis of the amendments introduced with a view to improving the Budget".
She noted, however, that Angola's public debt situation, "which exceeds 50 percent, raises justified concern and it is imperative that the Government manages the debt responsibly, reviewing and reducing non-essential expenses".
Representative Albertina Ngolo spoke for UNITA, who presented a set of reasons to justify the vote against, stating that the budget proposal for 2024 "is riddled with errors induced in budget planning and clear discrepancies between the recommended objectives".
The 2024 OGE "is far from reflecting the real situation of the economy if we consider that 70 percent of it is informal", she maintained.
Deputy Rui Malopa Miguel, from the mixed parliamentary group Social Renewal Party (PRS) and National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), justified the abstention by stating that the budget has "small values for carrying out social, economic and other policies".
"The mixed parliamentary group has doubts regarding the implementation of the economic policy guidelines enshrined in the National Development Plan (PDN) on strengthening the income of families and workers, and boosting their access, which is why we voted abstention", he noted.
The Government forecasts Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 2.8 percent in 2024, reflecting growth in the non-oil sector at a rate of 4.6 percent, and inflation of around 5.3 percent in the same year, admitting that oil production, including gas production, in 2024, should fall by 2.6 percent. At least 57.8 percent of the total Budget expenditure for the 2024 financial year, estimated at 14.3 billion kwanzas, will be allocated to servicing public debt, internal and external, as stated in the budget. The social sector represents the second largest share of the budget with 20.1 percent, general public services with 9 percent, defense and public order with 7.1 percent and the economic sector with 4.9 percent.
