The Angolan government forecasts economic growth of 3.5% between 2023 and 2027, driven by economic diversification, particularly agribusiness, which will receive financing of US$3 billion.
The figures were revealed by the Minister of Economy and Planning, Mário Caetano João, who was speaking on the sidelines of the event “Angolan Development Table”, in which business leaders and officials of the executive branch and Angolan public institutions participated.
“We forecast growth of at least 4.6% in the non-oil sector and between 0.5% and 1% in the oil sector”he indicated, adding that this does not mean a slowdown in investments in the oil sector, but rather an “acceleration of diversification.”
The minister stressed that the engine of the coming years will be investment in agribusiness, through financing lines from the Development Bank of Angola.
The Planagrão (National Plan for the Promotion of Cereal Production) has already been approved, with about 500 million dollars a year and an equivalent amount for infrastructure and access to productive areas and the Planapescas (National Plan for the Promotion of Fisheries), to which the executive will allocate US$300 million.
The Government is also working on a plan for livestock that will also have US$ 300 million in the next three years to support animal production and derivatives, Mário Caetano João announced.
In total there are more than 3 billion dollarsincluding public infrastructure, which the executive chaired by João Loureço wants to make available to the private sector to position Angola among the main African agricultural producers.
“We have never had a massive investment like this in agribusiness,” he stressed, adding that the plans were not designed only taking into account the different sectors, but with a cross-cutting approach.
The minister hopes that the plans will help place Angola at the forefront of agricultural production in Africa, since the country has several comparative advantages such as low population density and abundant water resources????????
“We believe that in five years we can be among the main producers of grains (milho, soybean, wheat and rice), being that milho and soybean form 95% of two ingredients for animal feed”, also boosting livestock and fishing, frisou the responsible.
Regarding the businessmen’s complaints about the difficulties in accessing banks, he considered that “it was necessary to create procedures to safeguard the proper use of resources” not repeating the mistakes of the past, as well as working with the private sector that shows “little maturity” in its projects.
“We are helping to transform emotional projects into rational projects”, declared Mário Caetano João.
The minister highlighted that the current contribution of the oil sector to the Angolan economy is 27%, representing two thirds of revenues and close to 95% of exports, so it continues to be an important driver of the balance of payments, but The relative weight is expected to decrease in the coming years due to the increased activity in the non-oil sector.
Source: Observadora
