Luanda – The members of the National Assembly diverged on Thursday on the position on the proposal of the General State Budget (OGE) for the 2025 financial year, during the 2nd extraordinary plenary meeting of the current legislature.
MPLA parliamentarians considered that the priorities contained in the document ensure public policies and contribute to the improvement of citizens' living conditions.
Speaking in the plenary, solely dedicated to the discussion and voting on the 2025 State Budget, Narciso dos Santos Benedito, from MPLA, stressed that the document presents actions to protect families, which promote economic growth.
He referred, above all, to the social domain, underlining the reinforcement of the School Lunch Programme, which will have 450 billion kwanzas, with the aim of progressively reaching all public primary schools, including initiation classes.
He considered the weight of about 22 percent of spending on the sectors of education, health, social protection, housing and community services a considerable advance.
For her colleague Ana Delgado, from the provincial cycle of Malanje, the legal instrument under analysis is favourable, as it contemplates priorities that guarantee food security and the sustainable growth of the national economy.
She defended, however, greater support for the agriculture and livestock sector, areas in which, in his opinion, this locality has been growing in recent times.
According to Ana Delgado, these results demonstrate the gradual progress that has been made in Malanje and the Executive's concern to improve the lives of the populations.
Among other budget plans, she considered pertinent the budget reinforcement of 191.6 billion kwanzas from the Social Cash Transfer Program 'Kwenda'.
Oon the other hand, Albertina Navita Ngolo, Member of the Parliament (MP) from UNITA, 'announced the vote against' and defended the creation of policies for access to credit for small and medium-sized companies.
She deplored the current social situation in the country, considering the level of poverty of many families to be high.
Parliamentarian Álvaro Daniel, also from the UNITA bench, said that he would like to see more road construction and rehabilitation projects reflected in the aforementioned OGE proposal.
In his opinion, there is little investment in this area and the country still has a high number of degraded roads.
MPs Bela Malaquias, from the Humanist Party of Angola (PHA), Benedito Daniel, from the Social Renewal Party (PRS), and Nimi a Simbi, from the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), also showed displeasure with the social situation.
In turn, the politician Felino Job considered that food security, highlighted in the State Budget proposal, as well as the reinforcement of the school lunch program, play a role of great importance in the budget of many families.
For him, school meals are an investment for “those considered the future of the country and must be monitored by everyone so that the objectives are achieved”.
Among other actions, the OGE 2025 proposal projects to massify the consumption of goods and services produced in the national territory, establishing the Legal Regime for Incentives to National Production, through the vehicle of contracting public entities.
The budget foresees the growth of the national economy of around 4.14% and the reduction of VAT on production equipment, from the current 14% to 5%, maintaining the payment period introduced in 2023 of up to 24 months.
The document also includes measures to support investment in food security, through the restructuring and dynamization of the cereals and grains sector, strengthening agricultural mechanization, fundamentally with regard to family agricultural production.
The OGE 2025 proposal, whose debate and consequent approval was transferred to Friday, estimates revenues and expenses in the order of 34 billion, 633 billion, 790 million, 87 thousand and 312 kwanzas.
The document was prepared based on an average oil price of 70 dollars/barrel and an oil production of one million and 98 thousand barrels of oil per day, predicting inflation in the order of 16.6%, lower compared to the inflation rate accumulated 23.4% expected until the end of 2024. ASS/VC/DOJ
