The Portuguese businessmen present at the Luanda International Fair expressed this Saturday optimistic about the future of Angola, highlighting the economic momentum, and believe that the electoral period will have a neutral or reduced impact on their activities.
At the Luanda International Fair (Filda), which began this Saturday and will run until Wednesday, there are more than twenty Portuguese companies among the 200 international exhibitors, operating in the most diverse areas of activity, some established many years ago in Angola. , others who are now beginning to look at this African market.
The IBG group, linked to the construction sector, but also with an industrial component, present in Angola and several other African and European countries, looks to the future with good eyes.
The executive president, Miguel Gama, says that the economic recovery may be more or less rapid depending on the price of oil, but it will be inevitable, and points out as positive the restart of some real estate, housing and office developments that were stopped indicator. , reflecting the improvement in the business environment, such as Filda.
“There are investors from various countries who visit Angola and the fair is also an image of that. You see a lot of people, I think you live in a different environment than in recent years, people are more excited, ”she said, speaking to Lusa. A situation that he considers should not be affected during the elections.
“In political terms I don’t see any difficulties, we are talking about a peaceful people that believes in what is being done. At a work level, that doesn’t worry me”, says the businessman, despite acknowledging that, in the month of August, “something always slows down”.
Miguel Afonso dos Santos, general director of the Epic Sana hotel, of the Portuguese hotel group Sana, present in Angola for ten years, spoke of “a pearl” to discover in terms of leisure tourism, with the accommodation offer, especially in Luanda, oriented to business tourism.
“We essentially live off corporate tourism, obviously we are not indifferent to everything that is happening in the world and if the economy is stronger or less strong, we are also benefiting or not,” he said, noting that now it is important to “stimulate leisure tourism, selling landscapes, selling gastronomy, selling the fantastic country that is Angola”.
If in July and August the holiday period and the consequent drop in business activity brings with it a drop in the hotel business, the proximity of elections can also bring opportunities for Epic Sana: “We will look for some business with electoral observers and we will continue to take advantage of the arrival of some business movement,” he says, although he foresees “a calmer phase” in the coming months.
“Despite global instability, the winds seem to be blowing favorably for Angola,” added Miguel Afonso dos Santos, citing advantageous macroeconomic factors such as oil prices and the expansion of agro-industrial potential.
Ricardo Santos Júlio, commercial director of Quinta de Jugais, producer of meat products, present in Angola since 2007, also pointed out a positive situation for the company that invested US$ 20 million last year in an industrial unit that employs 200 people to spend to produce in the Portuguese-speaking country.
“It is a factory three times larger than the one we have in Portugal. We believe a lot in the country and in the potential of this market”, she underlined.
The official stressed that the products being made in Angola “have great quality”, adding that the company has included in its traditional offer a line directly from Oliveira do Hospital “made with the same recipe and with an indistinguishable flavor”.
He also said that the company continues to grow and is already thinking of setting up two new production lines this year and expanding the smokehouse area, since it is the only company with a traditional smokehouse in Angola. “Our difficulty now is having space to produce more. It’s a ‘puzzle’ that we’re constantly putting together,” he said.
During the electoral period he admits a certain retraction “in investment and permanence in the territory”, but he hopes that everything will go “on wheels”. “We know that there will not be a great growth, but we would like it to be stable compared to the same months,” said Ricardo Santos Júlio.
For the Portuguese ambassador in Luanda, Francisco Alegre Duarte, there is “very reasonable optimism” among the business community. “This is the first year of economic growth after five years of recession, we are witnessing positive signs”, he said, recalling that the non-oil sector has been driving the Angolan economy, despite the “difficult” international context.
“Angola is one of the few countries that is resisting and showing signs of economic growth. And we are here to help and accompany that growth,” she assured, adding that competition from other countries “is not scary” and is even healthy.
As for Portuguese companies, they benefit from advantages such as language, installed capacity, in-depth knowledge of the market and social integration, which is reflected in their commercial alliances.
“We have a lot of trust and confidence,” he stressed, refusing to comment on the impact of the elections on Portuguese companies.
Source: Observadora
