Luanda - Angola's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), based on the expenditure approach, grew by 2.6 percent in the first quarter of 2022.
According to the National Statistics Institute (INE), there was a slight increase of 0.2 % compared to the fourth quarter of 2021 (2.4 percent).
INE said the quarterly GDP, published for the first time, includes amounts of final consumption expenditure of households, the government, investments, as well as the difference between net exports and imports.
The source indicates that household final consumption expenditure registered an annual rate of 5%, seven percentage points less than in the previous quarter.
On the other hand, General Government final consumption expenditure slowed down by 14.2 points, showing an year-on-year change of 4.4%, while final consumption expenditure increased by 6.4%, compared to the same period.
According to economist José Lumbo, the slight rise in GDP in the first quarter of this year illustrated positive growth in all that was produced in terms of goods and services, a fact that contributed to the increase in monetary values.
The expert in Capital Market and Public Finance noted that the growth of the Gross Domestic Product in that period "is not reflected in the increase of the quality of life of the Angolan citizen," because income remained unchanged.
Speaking to ANGOP, the economist suggested the need to work towards making the GDP grow at least in more than two digits or at the average of the Southern Region, in particular, so that it has an impact on the real economy and the life of the citizens.
Meanwhile, Lumbo pointed to fast, transparent and favourable financing from the banking sector to the business sector as a key factor to maintain the positive and strong growth of the national economy in the medium and long term.
