Lisbon - Angolan minister of Finance Vera Daves Thursday in Portugal spoke of the challenges of the Angolan economy, highlighting its dependence on oil and the need for diversification process.
The minister was speaking at the second meetings of Public Finance - Building Strong and Inclusive Institutions, taking place in Lisbon, Portugal
Delivering her speech, Vera Daves said that the economies that depend on a single raw material make external shocks even more challenging and, due to the evolution of the price and production, there are consequences for those in charge of managing public finances.
As for the recent past, Vera Daves said that Angola moved from "heaven to hell", when the price of oil fell from more than 100 dollars per barrel to less than 30 dollars, in 2014.
Vera Daves recalled that there was, in January 2016 and then in September 2018, a "slight recovery" in the price of crude, above 60 dollars per barrel.
But then it fell again, standing at above 40 and reaching 2020 with little investment in the sector, which was reflected in the reduction in production, associated with the arrival of the pandemic.
She considered this situation as a "perfect storm", which caused the price of a barrel to fall to less than 20 dollars and was correlated with production, which was 1.9 million barrels per day, rising to 1.1 million barrels per day – an amount that remains more or less constant to the present day.
Also in her speech on "Public Finance Reform - the recent path and the great challenges in Angola", she said that a public finance reform programme had been carried out during the period 2017/2022.
At first, she pointed out, it was thought that technical assistance was enough, but later it was shown that money was needed, this in a clear allusion to the expanded funding programme, which ended in December 2021, for an amount of 4.5 billion dollars, or approximately 4.1 billion euros.
In addition to Minister Vera Daves, former Portuguese Finance Minister João Leão also spoke of the “role of strong, transparent and accountable Portuguese public finances”.
