Luanda - The Angolan Executive will continue to work to ensure price stability in the economy, through consistent actions that benefit citizens, assured this Saturday, in Luanda, the Minister of State for Economic Coordination, José de Lima Massano.
According to the official, who was speaking to the press, at the end of a field visit in Angolan fishing companies, in the municipality of Viana (Luanda), it is necessary to work to find solutions that, from a transversal point of view, can protect all Angolans.
“Our actions must be consistent, benefiting the majority of the population, without privileging just a certain layer or social class”, he stated.
To stabilize prices and encourage national production, the Angolan Executive has implemented measures, with emphasis on reducing Value Added Tax (VAT) on widely consumed food goods and their production factors, from 14 to 5%.
This action covers 20 categories of food products, namely bread, fresh and frozen pork, beef, goat, sheep meat and their offal, frozen and dried fish, chicken thighs, condensed and powdered milk, eggs, beans, potatoes, corn flour, cornmeal, wheat flour, cooking oil, among others.
Additionally, José de Lima Massano highlighted the government's priority measures as encouraging national production, through the provision of macro-economic instruments that facilitate access to agricultural credit, access to the market for companies, among other mechanisms to increase jobs and ensure the sustainability of the national economy.
Among these measures, it is highlighted the financing of structuring investment projects from scratch or expansion, leveraging production chains, in several sectors of activity, with grace periods and attractive reimbursements, an operation carried out through the Development Bank of Angola (BDA).
Another action aimed at encouraging national production is the provision of around 50 billion kwanzas ($59.666.000) to support close to a thousand projects by Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the country's Center and South regions, this year, in an initiative of the Guarantee Fund Credit (FGC).
Asked about the recent Presidential Decree No. 68/24, of March 7, which determines the withdrawal of the gasoline subsidy, the Minister of State clarified that, currently, the subsidy level is still high, a fact that affects the capacity of the State honor its commitments, with emphasis on the social sector.
“There is nothing extraordinary about removing fuel subsidies. Therefore, we have to continue to move towards normality, as it is a process that was already foreseen”, he explained.
Presidential Decree No. 68/24, of March 7, determines the withdrawal of the gasoline subsidy and the removal of the cap on subsidy cards for this product, until April 30, 2024.
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