Africa-Press – Angola. The funding of around 1.4 billion kwanzas for the 4,795 projects of the Program to Support Production, Diversification of Exports and Substitution of Imports (PRODESI), is part of the highlights of the Economic Desk in the week that ends yesterday.
The information was made in Luanda by the Secretary of State for the Economy, Ivan dos Santos, having referred that the funding is expected to create around 75,464 direct jobs, not including indirect ones.
According to the official, who was speaking at the usual briefing of the Ministry of Economy and Planning, in the headquarters of the approved projects, the Credit Support Program (PAC) has 1,923 projects, equivalent to 76 billion kwanzas.
According to the same, the disbursed projects amounted to 1,439, estimated at approximately 59 billion kwanzas.
It was also highlighted during the week that the international consortium, in charge of exploring the Lobito Corridor, over a period of thirty years, reiterated its promise to invest US$500 million in Angola and around US$100 million in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Named “Lobito Atlantic Railway”, the consortium, formed by the companies Trafigura from Switzerland, Mota-Engil from Portugal and Vecturis SA from Belgium, officially starts, as of Tuesday, 4th, to explore cargo transport on the corridor Lobito railway.
Speaking at the transfer ceremony for the concession of railway services and logistics in the Lobito Corridor, the chairman of Trafigura’s Executive Committee, Jeremy Weir, considered it to be a significant investment to make this corridor operational and profitable in the future.
Jeremy Weir recognizes that the potential of this project is so great that it has received support from the Government of the United States of America, with a view to a new package of 250 million dollars.
Still on investments in the Lobito Corridor, the Minister of Transport, Ricardo D`Abreu, said that they will make it possible to reach the transport threshold of one and a half million tons of cargo in three years, against the current 300 thousand tons.
Speaking in an interview with the Public Television of Angola (TPA), the official said that the period of growth of the Lobito Corridor begins now, year one (1), to reach cruising speed in the next five years.
According to the official, everything is being done so that the goods transit through the corridor, without any payment of customs duties, based on the goods facilitation agreement.
Last week, Sonangol denied the information circulated in some media about changes in the price of domestic gas.
In a press release, the Angolan oil company informs that the price remains unchanged and refers that such information does not correspond to the truth.
There was also an investment of around US$200 million that will be applied, in the near future, in Bengo province, for the construction of an aluminum factory.
For this purpose, an agreement was signed between the heads of the Angolan company Sino Ord Park Industrial and the Chinese company OTInternacional, at the Third China/Africa Economic Forum, which took place in Huan province (China).
Also mentioned in the week was the news that the BTMT Industrial Unit, installed in the Special Economic Zone (ZEE), in Luanda, is the first company to be privatized this year, within the scope of the Privatization Programme, PROPRIV ( 2023-2026), which provides for the disposal of 73 State assets/shares.
Without advancing the value of the sale of the factory unit, dedicated to the production of low and medium voltage electrical equipment and apparatus, the Secretary of State for Finance and Treasury, Ottoniel dos Santos, said that the process of disposal of the other companies takes place according to the schedule defined by that plan.
Also in the week just ended today, it was announced that thirty poultry farmers in the municipality of Cuvango, province of Huíla, had benefited from the second allocation of over five thousand rustic breed chicks, to encourage the production of chickens and eggs, in an initiative of the local Administration .
This is a project that aims to empower families living in rural areas, so that they can contribute to improving their diet, within the scope of the Integrated Program for Local Development and Combating Poverty (PDLCP), with a group already benefited from the same endowment.
It was also highlighted, during the seven days, that around 3 billion kwanzas were made available to the operator KixiCrédito to grant loans to 6 thousand projects, included in the Informal Economy Reconversion Program (PREI).
Speaking, after the inauguration of the 32nd specific service point for the PREI, in the São Paulo market, in the municipality of Luanda, the president of the Executive Committee of the institution, Joaquim Catinda, advanced that the amount refers to the second phase of the reconversion project of the informal economy, which began last May.
The executive administrator of the Institute for the Support of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (INAPEM), Paula Coelho, says that, since the opening of the store, around 1,580 micro-entrepreneurs have been registered at this stage and are being trained.
The announcement that the Matala hydroelectric facility will be in full operation from December this year, with the completion of repairs to the last two, three electricity generation turbines, also marked the week.
According to the Minister of Energy and Water, João Baptista Borges, the second turbine starts to be tested in August and the last one in December.
For the official, the entry into full operation of this use, “will considerably reduce” the consumption of diesel in the thermal power stations in Lubango, which, in addition to five municipalities in Huíla, also supply Namibe.
It should also be noted that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Angola recorded, in the first quarter of 2023, growth of 0.3%, compared to the same previous period, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
Speaking at the usual MEP briefing, where he presented the data released by INE, the Head of the Department for Macroeconomic Policy and Management of the Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP), Martins Afonso, indicated that the referred fact was mainly supported by the non-profit sector. oil sector, which grew by 2.8%, despite an 8% contraction in oil GDP.
The official explained that the performance of the non-oil GDP was sustained mainly by the transport sector which grew 27%, extraction sector 22.9%, energy and water with 7.80%, other services 2.9%, trade with 2, 5% and agriculture and livestock, with 0.9%.
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