Africa-Press – Angola. Measures adopted by the Government are alleviating the effects of Covid-19 and the conflict in Ukraine on prices in the national market, defended the Minister of State for Economic Coordination, Wednesday (12), in Benguela, at the opening of the 1st Conference International on Logistics and Transport.
Manuel Nunes Júnior stressed that, in view of the increase in the prices of food raw materials on the international market, as a result of these two events, the Government decided to adopt an exemption from the payment of customs duties for products of wide consumption, with a view to protecting consumers in the intern market.
In the same sense, he continued, the Value Added Tax (VAT) rate was reduced from 14 to 7.0 percent for these same products, while implementing the Strategic Food Reserve (REA), which supports the market the fluctuation of prices in the international market, in addition to promoting purchases from domestic producers.
Additionally, the Government is leading the process of selling 500 vans to support the flow of national production, in a measure that will contribute to boosting economic life in rural areas, including the creation of infrastructure for the storage and flow of production.
Combined, all these measures have contributed to stabilizing and even reducing prices of products that are widely consumed by the populations, “which is very encouraging, and this is a path that we will continue to follow more firmly”, announced Manuel Nunes Júnior.
Transport Reform
The minister recalled that the Transport sector has undergone profound structural reforms, at a legal, regulatory and institutional level, in the light of best international practices, with a view to providing the country with logistical infrastructures capable of responding to the challenges of storage and distribution of products in scale, as well as contributing to the reduction of logistics costs and serving as a catalyst for the diversification of the national economy.
Having better logistics and transport infrastructures, the production costs of economic agents engaged in intermediation are reduced and, as a consequence, the price for the final consumer drops, he stressed.
According to the minister, the reforms carried out in the field of logistics are providing the basis for the creation of an economic environment conducive to greater participation by the private sector in the promotion of intermodal logistics.
In this area, the Government will continue the construction and rehabilitation of basic infrastructures in the road, rail, maritime and air modes, with the strategy of concession of State assets for the exploration and management of the private sector leading to an improvement in competitiveness. business.
The concessions for the private sector of the Soyo, Luvo, and Luau logistics platforms are nearing completion, the tenders for which were launched between November 2021 and May 5th.
According to the official, these logistics platforms will allow investors to have at their disposal logistic bases with adequate infrastructure in strategic points of the national territory and road, rail, maritime and air interconnectivity.
He considered the future Luau Platform, to be implemented along the Lobito Corridor, a major gateway to the east of the country, to boost regional and international trade, with Angolan institutional and business expectations fueled by the practical results of the conference.
The meeting, which ends today, is an initiative of the Katyavala Bwila University (UKB) supported by the Provincial Government of Benguela, aiming, in addition to scientific aspects, an exchange of experiences between countries on the process of logistics and transport in the development of States.
The meeting has more than 200 national and foreign guests, in addition to Angola, South Africa, Cape Verde and Portugal, who participate in person, France and the Netherlands, who do so in a virtual format.
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