Africa-Press – Angola. The President of the Republic, João Lourenço, announced, during the speech on the State of the Nation, at the opening of the parliamentary year, that his “priority for the coming years will continue to be, similarly to what was the first term, the improvement of the living conditions and well-being of all Angolans”.
In order to achieve the goals, the President revealed projects that the Executive will carry out in the next five years, with the Education and Health sector deserving greater attention.
“The Executive will continue to dedicate all its attention and commitment to the economic and social development of Angola”, he assured.
As an example, the President cited the National Development Plan (PDN) for the period 2023-2027, which shows some of the actions that the Executive is implementing in various sectors of the country’s life, with emphasis on Health and Education.
He added, in this regard, that the main perspectives for the Education sector in the coming years are the continuity of the National Program for Training and Management of Teaching Staff to ensure the functions of teachers in pre-school, primary and in each subject. of the I and II cycle of secondary education. He thus guaranteed that in each province the exercise of education will be carried out by duly qualified teachers.
“The biggest investment a nation can make is in the education of its people and, in particular, of its youth”, underlined President João Lourenço.
In this particular case, he mentioned that quality education, which prepares the workforce of today and tomorrow, to be talented, creative, innovative and productive agents, in the labor market and in society, is the basis for the prosperity of Nations.
“We want our teachers to be valued and to be able to teach our children with more quality and with better conditions in our public schools”, stressed the President, adding that part of this strategy is the continuity of the Reference Schools Project, started in 2021, to serve as a model for the promotion of best pedagogical practices and school management.
Salary differentiation for teaching in remote areas
Within the scope of investments in the Education sector, the President of the Republic announced the implementation of a pay differential for teachers who work in remote areas of the country. The implementation of a program to equip the schools’ laboratories and libraries is also planned, in addition to increasing the allocation and effective financial availability for investment in infrastructure, with emphasis on the construction of primary and secondary schools.
University education
In the Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation sector, President JOão Lourenço announced the continuity of the program to improve higher education infrastructure, which includes construction and equipping.
Here, the emphasis was on the continuity of the Program of sending 300 graduates and masters to the best universities in the world, with the same level of demand.
In a speech that showed the various achievements of the Executive, in different sectors, and the goals to be achieved in this mandate, the President announced, in the scope of social support to the most needy and meritorious students, the availability, in this five-year period, of ten thousand new annual internal scholarships.
National Science and Innovation Award
With the aim of distinguishing researchers, teams and national institutions of excellence in the field of research, the President said that the National Science and Innovation Prize will be instituted.
Health Sector
For the Health sector, the President of the Republic said that a set of actions was reserved for the strengthening of the National Health System, with emphasis on the extension, throughout the country, of the hemodialysis service, due to, at least, a unit in the provincial capital.
In order to respond to population growth and the increase in infrastructure, the President assured that the State will continue to carry out public tenders until 2024.
“Our focus will be on the development of human capital, with an increase in training, capacity building, specialization and the development of staff careers, with the admission of eight thousand new professionals currently underway”, he clarified.
Also in the Health chapter, João Lourenço announced the construction, in all provincial capitals, of hospitals capable of solving medium and high complexity problems, in order to continue with the reduction of patient evacuations to Luanda and outside the country, thus allowing the citizens of these areas to solve their health problems close to their family and workplace.
Purchasing power
Taking into account the downward trend in inflation levels in the country, the President stressed that the Executive will continue to work to achieve, in the next two years, a single-digit annual accumulated inflation rate, which, as he underlined, “will be good for increasing the purchasing power of our populations and will contribute “enormously” to the reduction of the nominal interest rates prevailing in our market.
Another issue that was highlighted in the President’s State of the Nation speech was unemployment.
With a view to increasing the supply of jobs in the country, the President announced that the Executive will implement a national unemployment program.
He stated that the search for this solution will involve working on the coordination of all public and private initiatives aimed at reducing unemployment levels.
Another issue that did not pass by the discourse on the State of the Nation was the fight against corruption and impunity. On this matter, the President assured that the fight against these two evils will continue to be carried out by Organs competent bodies, with determination and objectivity.
In order to have a perspective of what has been done in this area, he said that, in the period from 2012 to 2017, only 18 investigation cases had been opened in the country for corruption, money laundering and related crimes.
In the period from 2017 to September 2022, it continued, 527 cases were opened, of which 247 were concluded, resulting in the opening of 106 criminal cases.
Also during this period, the President said that 2,511 cases were also initiated at the national level for crimes of embezzlement, money laundering, corruption, economic participation in business and other economic and financial crimes, involving, among others, office holders public.
Of these cases, he said, 2,037 are under preparatory investigation and 474 have already been sent to the courts for judgment, of which 40 ended in convictions.
As for the declarations of assets of holders of public offices and other persons, required by law, the President pointed out that, from 2012 to 2017, 188 declarations of assets were registered, while, from 2017 to September 2022, they were deposited with the Public Prosecutor’s Office. General of the Republic 3,635 declarations of assets.
“With regard to the recovery of amounts diverted from the treasury, the State recovered money and assets corresponding to about 5.6 billion dollars”, highlighted the President of the Republic, recalling that in the period from 2019 to September this year it proceeded The seizure of assets and values totaling about 15 billion dollars, of which 6.8 billion were seized in the country and the rest outside the country.
International
Reserves Net International Reserves (NIR) reached a balance of US$13.6 billion at the end of September 2022, announced the Head of State, João Lourenço. “International Reserves have been stabilized around an average coverage of nine months of imports of goods and services in the last five years”, assured the President of the Republic when speaking on the state of the Nation, during the solemn opening session of the Parliamentary Year 2022- 2023
Advances in the economy
President João Lourenço said that the country managed, in the macroeconomic field, to reverse the deep internal and external imbalances of late 2017.
Public finances, which at that time accumulated successive budget deficits, as of 2018 returned to a path of positive fiscal balances, with the exception of 2020, due to the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“In 2021, the overall budget balance was again positive, at around 3.8 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and the primary balance was 9 percent of GDP, above the 4.3 percent forecast. , initially, in the General State Budget (OGE) of 2021”, he asserted.
João Lourenço said that the most recent indicators of the country’s public finances indicate that, this year, “we will have a positive budget balance, with the economic reforms we carry out”.
He stressed that it was possible to reverse the trajectory of the increase in public debt, with the stock of debt, in relation to GDP, rising from 133.8 percent in 2020 to 84 percent at the end of 2021.
Throughout this year, he pointed out, there continued to be a reduction in the public debt ratio, so that, in August of this year, this ratio stood at 66. 2 percent of GDP, which puts it very close to the 60 percent threshold established in the public finance sustainability law.
Modernization of public media bodies will continue
The Executive will continue to invest in the technical and technological modernization of public media bodies, which will include the completion of the transition from analogue to digital services, announced President João Lourenço.
João Lourenço indicated the modernization of the newsrooms and the graphic park of Edições Novembro, owner of Jornal de Angola and other titles, completion of projects for the broadcasters of Rádio Nacional de Angola (RNA), as well as the equipping of the National News Agency (ANGOP) and the conclusion of the extension of radio and television programs to the entire national territory, in order to guarantee access to information for all citizens.
João Lourenço advanced, on the other hand, that revisions will be made to the Statute of Journalists and the ERCA, as well as the revision of the Legislative Package for Social Communication will be concluded. As for Telecommunications and Information Technologies, it announced the improvement of voice and data services (broadband), the modernization and expansion of the services of INAMET, Angola Telecom and the expansion of its services, the entry into operation of ANGOSAT-2, as well as the Satellite Control Center.
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