Africa-Press – Angola. The entry into operation of a new diamond cutting factory, in the province of Lunda-Sul, to contribute to increasing production rates in the country, particularly in the region, marked the economic news of the week that ends Saturday.
This is the ninth cutting factory built in the country, four of which are located in the Saurimo Diamond Pole, Lunda-Sul province.
The “ROBUST DIAM” diamond cutting factory has a global investment of 5.5 million dollars (one dollar is worth kz 828,995) and has an installed capacity of 96 thousand carats per year and a monthly average of eight thousand carats, where A turnover of between 80 and 100 million dollars is expected in the first year of activity and it has 200 jobs.
Another highlight was the information that the diamond subsector finances 235.8 million dollars in social projects, from 2017 to the first half of 2023.
Of the global investment, US$112.8 million (one dollar is worth kz 828,995) refers to completed projects and US$123.04 million to ongoing projects.
Health deserved a large investment from the sector, with a total of USD 17.3 million in the period 2017-2023.
It was also mentioned this week that the World Bank (WB) made US$3.6 billion available to finance a portfolio of 17 projects with social and economic impact already underway in Angola.
According to Ana Maria de Carvalho, senior operations officer at the BM, the projects are being implemented in the education, energy, agriculture, social protection, budget support, health and water sectors, with the last two, with the largest volume of 25 and 20 percent of the portfolio, respectively.
When presenting the BM project cycle, at the workshop on projects financed by this institution, he said that by 2025 the value could reach 6 billion dollars, with more projects currently being prepared and the disbursement of another two billion dollars.
The fact that gross credit to the non-financial sector amounts to 6.05 billion kwanzas, an increase of around 1.4 billion kwanzas (31.58%), compared to the same period last year, indicated Banco Nacional de Angola(BNA ), was also highlighted in the week’s economic news.
According to a statistical information note on credit from December 2023, made available on the BNA website, of the global value of credit, 88.10% represented the debt of the private sector (private companies and individuals) and 11.90% the debt of the sector public (public administration and public companies).
The BNA says that the stock of credit to the private sector, in national currency, reached 4.13 billion kwanzas, having registered an increase of 644.44 billion kwanzas.
It was also highlighted that Angola and South Africa reinforced cooperation in institutional and technical capacity in the field of cross-border road transport services, as a result of the signing of a memorandum between the National Land Transport agencies (ANTT-Angola) and the Road Transport agency Cross-Border (CBRT-A/South Africa).
On the part of Angola, the president of the ANTT Board of Directors, Énio Costa, signed the memorandum, and from South Africa, the Executive Director of the Cross-Border Road Transport Agency (CBRT-A/South Africa), Lwazi Knowledge Mboyi.
Speaking to the press, the president of the Board of Directors of ANTT, Énio Costa, clarified that with the signing of the memorandum comes the pilot implementation, over a period of 4 months, of the “Cross Easy” computer system.
Not left out of the highlights was the news that the country acquired around one million 553 386 metric tons (MT) of liquid fuels in the 4th quarter of 2023, increasing 56% in relation to the previous quarter, valued at 1.17 thousand million dollars.
Speaking at the ceremony to review the activities of the petroleum derivatives sector, carried out in the 4th half of 2023, he highlighted that, of the tons acquired, around 65.5% corresponds to diesel, 22.8% to gasoline, 6.7% to fuel oil, 4.0% to jet A1, 0.4% to illuminating oil and the remaining 0.6% to asphalt bitumen.
Regarding the origin of the aforementioned acquisitions of liquid fuels, he made it known that 21.0% come from the Luanda Refinery, 0.3% from Cabgoc – Topping de Cabinda and 78.7% from imports
It was also highlighted that the project to promote wheat production, which is being developed in the commune of Chicuma, municipality of Ganda, province of Benguela, is expected to reach a peak of 73 thousand tons in four years.
This is an ambitious project promoted by the Angolan company Royal Empire, with an initial investment of 1.5 billion kwanzas, financed by the Agrarian Development Support Fund (FADA) and the Credit Guarantee Fund (FGC).
It was also reported during the week that twenty-seven thousand 350 heads of cattle of various species left the province of Cunene, to other parts of the country, during the year 2023, for commercial and breeding purposes, compared to 20 thousand 399 animals in compared to the previous period.
Among the livestock moved to the provinces of Luanda, Huíla, Namibe, Bié, Benguela, Malanje and Lunda Norte are four thousand, 769 cattle, 18,927 goats, two thousand and one sheep, one thousand, 639 pigs, six zebras, five horses and three giraffes.
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