Luanda – The Angolan National Assembly (AN) on Thursday approved the Execution Report of the General State Budget for the third quarter of the 2024 financial year, during its second ordinary plenary meeting.
The document, presented by the Minister of Finance, Vera Daves, had 104 votes in favor, 72 against and 5 abstentions.
Structured in five chapters, this report presents a summary of budgetary, financial and asset execution, as well as its annexes, which provide an overview of the information described.
It summarizes the national macroeconomic situation during the period in question, with emphasis on the Gross Domestic Product, inflation, performance of foreign trade and evolution of the price of oil in the international market, as well as exposes the performance of revenue and expenditure during the period under review.
The 2024 State Budget was prepared and approved based on the average price of US$65 per barrel of oil. However, the average price of Brent over the third quarter of 2024 stood at US$79.13 per barrel, representing 22% above the OGE's assumptions.
During the third quarter of 2024, the country collected revenues of 4.33 trillion kwanzas and expenditures of 4.70 trillion, an increase of 22% compared to the same period last year.
The revenue collected in the months of July, August and September last year showed a degree of execution of about 18%, in relation to the annual revenue approved by the 2024 State Budget.
With regard to the relationship with external financiers, 322.47 billion kwanzas were disbursed and there was a debt service of around 1.26 trillion kwanzas.
Meanwhile, the stock of public debt totalled around 58.88 billion kwanzas, with government debt equivalent to 97% of that value and the debt of public companies, namely Sonangol and TAAG, representing 3%.
The draft resolution of the aforementioned document, which passed in detail on the 11th of this one, deserved some recommendations, and the minister, speaking at the end of today's session, reiterated the Executive's commitment to work so that they can be implemented.
According to Vera Daves, the Government remains aligned with the vision of the deputies regarding the importance of completing projects and works in progress.
He stressed the need to continue working to accelerate the process of economic diversification, reducing dependence on oil, looking at sectors such as energy (renewable energy), heavy and light industry, agriculture, tourism, among others.
Among the recommendations, it is important to continue to improve the general level and methods of collecting tax revenues, improving existing sources and methods of collection, and to continue efforts to contain the growth of public debt, so as to ensure the sustainability of public finances and to prioritize the completion of existing works and the rehabilitation of the country's main roads.
The recommendations include incentives to increase national oil production, through the granting of new tenders that make it possible to attract investments and increase production, support for actions to promote micro-credit for family farming, in the context of family security and the development of the logistics chain.
The parliamentarians also defended the consolidation of economic and financial measures, in order to mitigate the devaluation of the national currency and provide greater purchasing power to families and greater attention to the financial execution of the program, strengthening the fight against economic and financial crime and corruption.
Explanation of vote
MPLA deputy João Mpilamosi said that the party voted in favor since it considers, among other aspects, compliance with the deadlines for delivering the report and other supporting documents required by law to the National Assembly.
'A methodology of descriptive and analytical presentation and its content made available to interested parties. Extensive information with emphasis on the management of public debt, with the respective indicators of internal and external debt, as well as the list of the main creditors,' he said.
For his part, David Kissadila, from UNITA, explained that his political formation voted against because it concluded that the document does not reflect the realidade.VC/DOJ
