Africa-Press – Angola. The MPLA parliamentary group encouraged, this Wednesday, in Luanda, the Executive to continue promoting good governance, budgetary rigor, transparency in treasury management, the fight against corruption and impunity.
Representative Idalina Valente, who read her party’s Political Declaration, as part of the discussion and approval, in general, of the OGE 2024 Proposal, also praised the Executive for its policies of macro-economic stability, diversification and exports.
He recalled that, starting in 2017, the Executive invested massively in agriculture and, in the short term, took several mitigation measures to promote domestic production and capitalized state funds to finance family and business agriculture.
He also highlighted the fact that the Government had issued public guarantees to finance the 2023-2024 agricultural campaign at subsidized interest rates.
He underlined that the OGE proposal for 2024 is the annual financial expression of the implementation of the National Development Plan (PDN) 2023-2027, the main instrument for implementing the State’s public policies, “as it is through it that we seek to increasingly improve the well-being of citizens”.
According to the MPLA deputy, this PDN instrument, along with the Angola 2050 long-term strategy, constitute the basis of the national planning system, both recently approved and which constitute the fundamental bases, not only, for government action, but also through oversight by deputies.
“It is in these instruments, in general, and in the PDN, in particular, that we will find the main axes that will lead the country’s economic and social development, each with its own policies and goals, as well as the programs allocated to the implementation of each politics”, he maintained.
OGE-2024 meets current challenges
Representative Idalina Valente highlighted, on the occasion, that the OGE 2024 proposal seeks to meet the current challenges of economic development, generating income for families and workers, stimulating companies, the economy and the sustainability of public finances.
He repudiated the fact that UNITA, the parliamentary opposition, had never voted in favor of a Budget Proposal in the National Assembly.
“This situation is regrettable because, effectively, no country can survive without a current budget to be able to manage the balance between revenue and expenditure to meet the full development needs of a country”, he stressed.
In response, the leader of the UNITA parliamentary group, Liberty Chiyaka, said that “this is not the budget that Angola needs to get out of the crisis”.
He accused the Executive of presenting its Proposal “knowing in advance that it will not respect the principles, rules and budget execution procedures contained in the Public Procurement Law and the Public Probity Law”.
“Almost 60% of the budget is to pay the debt, but the Executive does not present the Medium-Term Debt Strategy to the National Assembly and does not accept an audit of the public debt”, he said.
By the way, the UNITA parliamentary group submitted to the Plenary, for voting, a request requesting that the Executive send the 2024 National Debt Plan to the house of laws.
The request was approved by the hemicycle with 184 votes in favor, none against and no abstentions.
UNITA, in its political declaration, suggests that, by May 15th of each year, the Executive updates the Medium-Term Debt Strategy, which must be in harmony with fiscal rules and fiscal strategy.
On the other hand, the Mixed parliamentary group (PRS/FNLA), in the voice of deputy Benedito Daniel, expressed concern about the fact that the OGE 2024 Proposal dedicates 60% to the payment of public debt, for whom “these debt payments have no had an impact on citizens’ lives.”
For the politician, this OGE proposal is still far from what is desired in terms of equitable distribution of income.
The leader of the Humanist Party of Angola (PHA), Florbela Malaquias, emphasized that the OGE Proposal “brings numbers that, unfortunately, do not always reflect the real needs of society”.
We recognize, he said, that the challenges are significant, but we believe in a humanistic and crucial approach to overcoming them.
In his view, the OGE proposal should address social inequalities in a more forceful way, guaranteeing the fair and equitable allocation of resources, with a focus on reducing income disparity and social inclusion.
For him, high levels of public debt cause immediate and immediate financial problems, “given that debt service absorbs a significant portion of the public budget”.
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