Africa-Press – Angola. The governor of the National Bank of Angola (BNA), Manuel Tiago Dias, said this Tuesday, in Luanda, that there are several initiatives from Angola and Namibia so that citizens of both countries can more easily use the systems payment in commercial transactions.
Manuel Tiago Dias made these considerations to the press, at the end of a working meeting with the governor of the Bank of Namibia (BoN), Joahannes Gawaxab, who addressed cooperation between the two institutions, within the framework of the operationalization of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two central banks, in 2023.
According to the governor of the BNA, to date, technical work has been carried out at the level of central bank administrations, in which they have been guided in depth, as balance must be found and the interests of both parties must be taken into account. the parts.
In this way, he said, situations that occurred in the past will be avoided, in which a strong imbalance was noted, causing Angola to have accumulated a substantial debt within the scope of the implementation of the previous agreement, a situation that needs to be taken care of.
“The protocol is in the phase of identifying the ways of its successful implementation, and what we want is that by the end of the year an instrument can be clearly identified that allows the facilitation of trade between the two countries, respecting the interests between the two parties”, he highlighted.
He stated that a study was recommended to the technical teams to provide information on the export potential that exists in Angola and that could be taken advantage of by the business class, within the scope of implementing the protocol.
The BNA governor also said that there are many manufacturing units in the country with the potential to export goods to neighboring Namibia.
“We reviewed what is being done in terms of facilitating trade between Angola and Namibia, looking essentially at the instruments that should facilitate this cooperation, on the payment systems side”, he said
On the other hand, he indicated, the prospects for cooperation in the field of research between the two central banks were analyzed, and, in this sense, joint studies will be carried out to identify the export potential of both sides, which, naturally, could be used by businesspeople.
“Since we are developing the national strategy for financial inclusion, we had a conversation regarding this subject, and what was found is that the level we intend to reach in 2028 is the level at which Namibia currently finds itself”, he highlighted.
For this reason, he highlighted, it was decided to share information and knowledge, in order to achieve success both in the drafting and in the future, in terms of implementation of the national strategy for financial inclusion.
He said, on the other hand, that Angola has already formally expressed its intention to include the national currency (Kwanza) as one of the settlement currencies within the scope of the SADC payment system and, naturally, this could be one of the instruments that will contribute to boost bilateral relations between Angola and Namibia.
As it is a payment system in the region, he said that there is a process that must be triggered, although the country has already told the managers of the RTGS payment system to include the Kwanza as a settlement currency.
The SADC RTGS is a regional electronic payments system, developed by the organization’s Member States, with a view to quickly settling cross-border transactions without having to resort to intermediary banks outside the region.
With this, he highlighted, countries whose currencies are integrated into the payment system will be allowed to carry out settlements using their currencies.
In turn, the governor of the Bank of Namibia (BoN) highlighted the importance of the protocol, stressing that the gains do not only have to do with central banks, but also for businesspeople, as “the component that is being worked on it is about trade and finding mechanisms to facilitate and promote said activity”.
“The protocol has to do with trade and how we can facilitate this activity between the two countries with economic research, ways and mechanisms for our businesspeople to have access to trade, information on money laundering and its associated crimes and financial inclusion”, he highlighted.
He reiterated his support for BNA’s initiatives and considered bilateral cooperation fruitful.
Joahannes Gawaxab is in Luanda as part of the delegation of the President of his country, Nangolo Mbumba, who chose Angola as the first country to visit at the beginning of his country’s leadership.
The choice reflects the importance that Namibia attaches to Angola, a neighboring country with a long common history, a fact that, in the recent past, had already led Namibia to open its doors to Kwanza, to circulate freely in this country.
The acceptance of Kwanza in Namibia was suspended in 2015, as it generated in a short space of time an inflow equivalent to 300 million dollars (one dollar is equivalent to Kz 828,522).
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