Results of Angola translate to ‘less poverty and more employment’

Luís Epalanga inaugurated the “World Bank Academy” event today, marking the presentation of three analytical reports by the World Bank Group regarding the economic situation and prospects of Angola. This presentation took place during the visit of a delegation from the institution to the country this week.

The World Bank unveiled the first edition of the Angola Economic Report, the Country Economic Memorandum, and the Private Sector Diagnostic.

The Angolan official described these reports as “strategic tools for transformation,” emphasizing they enhance the government’s institutional capacity to formulate evidence-based policies with greater impact and better resource allocation.

“They provide strategic information to both national and foreign private sectors, accurately identifying bottlenecks and challenges, but primarily highlighting investment opportunities in sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, energy, infrastructure, and financial and digital services,” he stated.

According to Luís Epalanga, these tools also help increase transparency and predictability within the economic environment, elements essential to building investor confidence, and ensuring trust among multilateral partners and citizens, while simultaneously promoting “an open dialogue with civil society, encouraging public scrutiny and shared responsibility among all actors in crafting sustainable solutions.”

The Secretary of State for Planning emphasized that in recent years, the Angolan government has implemented several ambitious reforms to stabilize the macroeconomic situation, diversify sources of economic growth, improve the business environment, and fundamentally promote greater social and financial inclusion.

The achievements to date propel Angola to persist determinedly with these reforms, noted Luís Epalanga, highlighting that in the first quarter of this year, the Gross Domestic Product grew about 4%, following a 4% growth in 2024, driven primarily by the non-oil sector’s performance, which reported a 5.4% growth, notably agriculture (5.7%), commerce (2%), and manufacturing (2%).

According to the Angolan official, inflation has shown a downward trend, “a reflection of prudent monetary policies and exchange rate stabilization, along with an albeit insufficient increase in domestic production of food goods,” also highlighting the reduction in the unemployment rate from 32% in the first quarter of 2024 to 29.4% in the same period this year.

“Despite the progress of recent years, structural challenges persist, still limiting the full potential of our economy, especially the high dependency on the oil sector, which continues to account for more than 80% of exports, over 30% of fiscal revenues, and slightly under 20% of the Gross Domestic Product, making the economy vulnerable to fluctuations stemming from the international context, or occasionally from the internal context,” he highlighted.

Among the members of the World Bank Group delegation is the newly appointed Regional Vice President for Eastern and Southern Africa, Ndiamé Diop, who, along with the Senior Managing Director of the Group, Axel Van Trotsenburg, is visiting Angola for the first time.

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