Africa-Press – Angola. More than 938 million kwanzas were collected locally this year by the Benguela Municipal Administration.
In reviewing local revenues, the municipal administrator of Benguela, Armando Vieira, highlighted that of the amount collected, 728,517,575 kwanzas and 40 cents came from the payment of the Urban Property Tax (IPU).
Therefore, he plans to continue working with the General Tax Administration (AGT) to raise citizen awareness about paying the IPU, as it is a revenue that promotes the development of the municipality.
However, Armando Vieira explains that the resources raised made it possible to implement several social impact actions, especially in basic sanitation, such as the acquisition of boats and containers for garbage collection and motorbikes for micro-operators.
Regarding financial disbursements from the General State Budget (OGE), he admitted some constraints and therefore many programs, projects, actions and activities were postponed.
In practice, it was stated that in 2025 the budget of the Budgetary Unit of the Municipal Administration of Benguela was 40,917,374,580.00 kwanzas, including its dependent bodies, such as the municipal departments of Health and Education, Benguela Municipal Hospital, Physical Rehabilitation Center and Graça Health Center.
According to the administrator, of the referenced value only 38,574,582,828 kwanzas were executed, corresponding to 94.2%, noting that “until December 26th, a percentage of 5.8% remained to be executed”.
“As we are still completing the commitment process, we believe that this percentage may decrease”, he highlighted.
Fighting poverty
In relation to the Integrated Program for Local Development and Combating Poverty (PIDLCP), Armando Vieira made it clear that the Ministry of Finance only made 125 million kwanzas available, against the 375 million programmed.
As a consequence, he stressed, several goods have not yet been delivered to the Municipal Administration, as payments have not yet been reflected in the accounts of suppliers and service providers.
In fact, he acknowledged that there have been pending payments since February to March and that they could most likely be carried over, once again, to remaining expenses to be paid in 2026.
In any case, he reported that, with the 125 million kwanzas received from Finance, around 50 different kits were purchased for vulnerable families, with a view to improving their social condition, through the generation of self-employment.
School Meals
The 2026 budget for the Municipal Administration of Benguela is 51,336,987,124 kwanzas, which represents an increase of 10,419,612,544 kwanzas, in the order of 20.3 percent.
Armando Vieira clarified that of the increase recorded, the highlight is the 2,788,000.00 kwanzas that will be made available for the School Feeding Program in 36 primary schools, to improve the food and nutritional security of school-age children, thus reducing the school dropout rate.
He also took the opportunity to signal that school meals will prioritize local products provided by family farmers and cooperatives.
With more than 380,000 inhabitants, the municipality of Benguela is the capital of the province of the same name. Due to the new Political and Administrative Division (DPA), Navegantes was removed from it, now elevated to a municipality, with more than 240,000 inhabitants.
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