Day: May 4, 2023

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Angola, EU sign new agreements

The European Union (EU) and the Angolan Government signed Thursday in Luanda three agreements worth 120.1 million euros, as part of the Multi-annual Indicative Programme (MIP) 2021-2027 for Angola.

Signed the agreements the head of the EU delegation Jeannette Sppen and the Minister of Economy and Planning, Mário Caetano João (Angola).

The agreements include the agricultural revival programme, estimated at 40 million euros, aimed at reviving the network of 12 agrarian institutes.

Jeannette Sppen said that the programme will boost student employment and speedup the adaptation of the agricultural sector on climate change and the country’s nutritional needs.

Jeannette Sppen also said that the programme will transform such institutes in benefit of the community, through extension activities and improvement of infrastructures.

The official also said second programme is related to formalisation of the economy, including social protection and support for the management of public finances, which currently has funding of €62 million from the European Union.

Also pointed out to the programme, estimated at 17,500 euros, which aims to facilitate support for the development strategies of the Angola Government.

In turn, the minister of Economy and Planning, Mário Caetano João, explained that such signatures are included in the sharing of experience and good practices between Angola and the European Union.

He said Angola has been the object of increasing attention from many countries and international development agencies, not only because of political and economic reforms, but above all to institutional adjustments.

Based on the Government’s planning instruments, namely the Angola 2050 Long-Term Strategy, in its conclusive phase, the perspectives of the National Development Plan 2023-2027, the European Union designated its priority areas for Angola in the period 2021-2027.

The European Union highlighted sustainable economic diversification, transparent, accountable and effective governance, as well as human development matters.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)

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Credit Guarantee Fund sells assets recovered from “Angola Investe”

The Credit Guarantee Fund is to sell, via the Angolan Debt and Values Exchange (BODIVA), assets and holdings recovered from the Angola Investe Programme, extinct in 2018.

The Fund, attached to the Ministry of Finance, even participated in the Angola Investe Programme, having assured guarantees to more than 150 companies, of which 40% had reported failures.

Without specifying the overall amount to be recovered, the Fund’s executive director, Eduardo Mohamed, only said that the most critical cases represent a value of around 20 billion kwanzas.

The programme, which was scrapped and replaced by others, was created by the Government to support the financing of investment projects for micro, small and medium-sized companies.

It was managed by national commercial banks and coordinated by the Ministry of Economy and Planning, in partnership with the Credit Guarantee Fund.

The initiative, Angola Investe, has been in force for about four years, and in that period, an amount of 120 billion kwanzas was granted to finance 515 projects.

The Government even participated with the granting of credit of 55 billion kwanzas to subsidize interest rates, capitalize guarantee funds and venture capital.

This time, the recovery and disposal of assets via the Stock Exchange is also an opportunity for companies, as well as national and foreign investors.

As part of the recovery of assets linked to the agriculture, industry and fisheries sectors, fundamentally, the Fund has a programme outlined for the payment of commercial bank actions, and then marks another step towards recovering the shares with the support of the banking involved in this process.

The programme lasts three years, according to Eduardo Mohamed, who was speaking to the press on the sidelines of the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between his institution and BODIVA.

In the framework of the first Angola Invest programme that many companies benefited from, among small and medium-sized companies, we also had some failures that private banking activated the Guarantee Fund and the Fund plays its role here in terms of recovery”, he admitted.

He added that the “core business” of the fund is not to manage these small and medium-sized companies, hence the need for them to be passed to the market via auction.

The official assured that some companies will not lose their areas, in the case of farm owners, but instruments will be found for the funds recovery.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)