Economist Alves da Rocha affirmed this Thursday that social inequalities in Angola are “aberrant and unworthy” and stressed that between 2014 and 2021, 326 dollars (337 euros) per year were lost in the average income per inhabitant in the country.
Alluding to the reports of the mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the bases of the General Budget of the Angolan State (OGE) in this eight-year period, the economist pointed out that between 2017 and 2021 the loss was 315 dollars (293 euros ). per year per year each citizen.
The basic data, extracted from the aforementioned sources, to which are added the National Accounts, observes Alves da Rocha, point to a “increasing degradation” of the general living conditions of Angolans.
The analysis carried out by the director of the Center for Scientific Studies and Research of the Catholic University of Angola (UCAN) was presented in the 2nd Cycle of Debates: The Peace Dividend in Angola: Economic, political and civic indicators before 2002 and now.
In this debate session, promoted by the Reflection, Advisory and Debate Group (GRAD) of the Social Sciences and Humanities Laboratory of UCAN, the economist spoke about “Peace and National Reconciliation.”
This year, on April 4, Angola celebrated 21 years of peace and national reconciliation, after the end of the armed conflict in 2002.
For Alves da Rocha, peace is a public good, it belongs to the people and the best celebration of peace is the improvement of their living conditions.”systematically degraded for many years in this part“.
“The caviar and lobster, in the oppressive meals offered by the national bourgeoisie, contrast with the mixture of funje without duct (only water, salt and gindungo) in more than 90% of Angolan families,” he stated.
The economist highlighted that social inequalities in the country “are aberrant and unworthy of the precepts of our Constitution.”
We must be ashamed of the unbalanced social situation that exists where poverty, hunger and marginalization prevail. It is undignified to celebrate the years of peace with so many children in the streets asking for bread to eat,” he lamented.
For the Angolan economist, the absence of war “is important and truly invaluable”, however, the absence of armed actions does not mean peace, “only new conditions for development” and progress to occur, “the only and determining factors of unity and national reconciliation“.
According to Alves da Rocha, in the text presented at the meeting by the GRAD coordinator, Cesaltina Abreu, the absence of war “is a substantial gain, but its use has been defective and unfortunate” since it has not resulted in “Visible improvements in the living conditions of the majority of the population.“.
The “intense dynamics” of growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) between 2003 and 2008 “(around 10.7% annually, which could double in less than seven years), an effective material dividend of peace,” he highlighted, was channeled into the process of primitive capital accumulation and the creation of a wealthy national bourgeoisie“.
This, he pointed out, was the opportune moment to have made a change in the national income distribution model in favor of the fight against poverty and that would have prepared the country for “greater resistance to the adverse effects of the fall in oil prices.”“.
“Alves da Rocha also defended that national reconciliation.”it will only be effective” with a “secure economic base (distributed within criteria of rationality, productive and economic structures), sustainable growth and access to opportunities for enrichment.”
Source: Observadora
