Huambo - The Minister of State and Head of the Military Office of the President of the Republic, Francisco Pereira Furtado, said Thursday in central Huambo that the social and economic achievements of the 22 years of Peace and National Reconciliation are visible, measurable and irrefutable.
Speaking at the central event of the Peace and National Reconciliation Day, the minister said that in economic terms there has been the reconstruction and construction of various social and economic infrastructures throughout this period, which support the structural sectors of the economy, especially agriculture, industry, commerce and services.
According to the minister, these results have helped the government to define, for example, three priorities in its macroeconomic strategy for 2024, namely strengthening the income of families and workers and boosting their access to it, investing more in the economy and in companies, and making the State Budget more sustainable through economic diversification.
The minister added that after the shock caused by the measures to curb the effects of Covid-19, there was a slowdown in the growth of the world economy, which led the group of advanced economies to slow its growth in 2023 and 2024, with growth rates of 1.5 percent and 1.4 percent respectively, compared to 2.6 percent in 2022.
Francisco Pereira Furtado said Angola felt the effects of this behavior of the world economy affecting the national economy and that to counter this scenario and reduce its effect in the country’s economy, the government defined a strategy for improving the business environment, based on a set of public policy measures and legal instruments.
The minister said Angola has a new long-term vision that projects the country's future, including its integration in the international context over the next 27 years, namely the "Angola 2050" Long-Term Strategy, which is based on a society that values and boosts its human capital, with emphasis on education and technical and professional training, health and youth.
He pointed to the construction of modern and competitive infrastructures, prioritizing the energy and water sectors, roads, railways, ports, airports, housing and telecommunications, as the main challenges of the government.
Furtado explained that the next few years will be the first stage in building this vision of the future, which has brought together contributions from civil society, cooperation partners and the private sector in a broad consultation process, with the National Development Plan 2023-2027 opening a new era in the formulation of public policies, with an approach focused on the impact of development projects and activities.
The minister underscored that without human skills none of these projects will achieve the desired goals, so the importance to develop human capital, raising their level of qualification to provide them with more and better opportunities to improve their standards of living, as healthy and qualified Angolans will build a better future for the generations to come.
Advances in agriculture
"Today, after 22 years, it seems simple to say that the agricultural sector grew by 6.6 percent during the 2023/2024 agricultural season, representing an increase of 1 percent compared to the previous year (2022/2023) when it reached 5.6 percent, when in the recent past our food came entirely by boat, to the point where many children thought at the time that the corn stick was from the WFP (World Food Program)," he pointed out.
Despite these large figures on agriculture, the minister said, the government recognizes that they are insufficient, considering that the goal of food security is the new battle to be won.
Furtado pointed out that the latest balance report for the 2022/2023 agricultural season shows that family farming accounted for 91.3 percent of the area of 6.4 million hectares and 82 percent of the total production harvested 5.4 million tonnes), representing more than 6.6 percent growth in all sectors.
PIIM and Kwenda on the rise
The minister stressed that in Huambo province, the projects under the Integrated Municipal Intervention Plan (PIIM) has seen a cumulative overall physical execution of 85 percent, for those of local initiative, with disbursements of approximately 83 percent, which had made it possible to conclude actions, of which 189 were of local initiative and only two ministerial.
Currently, he added, 68 percent of the projects allocated to the Huambo portfolio have been carried out, which to date has made it possible to highlight the completion of 29 schools, 15 sanitation units and 29 new small water supply systems.
The minister said the Program to Strengthen Social Protection, known as Kwenda, is another initiative of the government that has shown very satisfactory results, with more than 1.5 million households registered, of which 1.32 million have already benefited from social cash transfers.
Gains in health
The minister pointed out that the National Health System has also grown considerably, with a total of 11 central and specialty hospitals, six institutes, 23 general and provincial hospitals, 172 municipal hospitals, 800 health centers and 2,311 health posts, making a total of 3,325 units.
He recalled that in 2017 only three provinces had specialized haemodialysis services, while by 2022 that number increased to 10 provinces, with a capacity to serve more than 3,000 users a week, in addition to the construction of eight reference hospitals.
The minister cited as an example, the recent inaugurations of the Hemodialysis Centre in Huambo and the General Hospital, which have helped strengthen care capacity and make highly complex health services available to citizens of this province and other neighboring towns.
Francisco Pereira Furtado said that in terms of human resources, 41, 93 professionals joined the public health service , including doctors, nurses, diagnostic and therapeutic technicians, hospital support technicians and general technicians.ALH/AMP
