Exposing improvements and setbacks in the Angolan economy – Prensa Latina

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In this regard, the debate held yesterday by the National Assembly (unilateral parliament) on the state’s general account for the fiscal year 2019, whose media reflection occupies prominent spaces in the local press on Thursday.

The Minister of State for Economic Coordination, Manuel Nunes Jr., reported that since 2018, the payment of public office salaries from income from oil, the main exportable component of this African country, has been discontinued, the Journal de Angola noted today on the front. the page.

He considered these data to be of great importance to the stability of public finances because without tax revenues from oil, it would have been possible to meet the obligations with the public office payroll.

In recent years, budget expenditures have been higher than collection and “we are not asking for loans to invest, to increase our capacity in social infrastructure or productivity. We are asking for loans to finance our daily consumption.

According to the Minister of State, the balance of public debt has also developed, rising from the equivalent of 79.9 billion dollars in 2017 to 71 billion in 2019, although the balance in the national currency was negative due to the exchange effect.

Despite the adverse conditions, the governor of the National Bank of Angola, Jose de Lima Masano, reported that international liquid reserves amounted to $14.7 billion, enough to cover 11 months of imports.

He admitted that one of the main challenges was the high food prices. A global phenomenon in the case of Angola is notable for its heavy dependence on imports despite efforts to diversify the economy.

For his part, the Minister of Economy and Planning, Sergio Santos, acknowledged that increasing jobs is one of the main concerns of the executive branch.

In 2019, he explained that more than 31 percent of the 15 million economically active Angolan population did not have a job, and “the reality has not changed much yet”.

Under the conditions of Covid-19, many people have been left without work, added to this by the high proportion of workers in the informal area of ​​the economy, who often struggle with social security guarantees.

Data from the Ministry of the Environment indicated that the informal sector still has a significant weight, accounting for between 40 and 60 percent of GDP, with the highest percentage found in the fields of agriculture, trade, fisheries and services.

rgh / mjm

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