The President of Angola gave this Thursday, in Luanda, a speech on the State of the Nation, in which he highlighted its governance policies and new measures to relaunch the economy and fight poverty
In his speech, which was the highlight of the Solemn Opening Session of the New Parliamentary Year, the Angolan Head of State highlighted, among several issues, the issue of municipal elections, having reaffirmed his commitment to their realization. Without referring to specific dates, João Lourenço stated that there can be no talk of postponing these elections, since they were never formally called.
Still in the political domain, he spoke about the fight against corruption and promised to continue to pay particular attention to the consolidation of the Democratic Rule of Law, being, therefore, fundamental the action of the governing body of justice and human rights. In his speech, of more than an hour, he assured that the Executive will continue to pay due attention to the fight against Covid-19, but will focus on the issue of diversifying the economy and increasing production. In this area, he promised to continue working to increase the national production of basic goods and services, the range of exportable products and the supply of labor.
Still in the economic domain, the Head of State announced that Angola will register, this year, a fiscal deficit in the order of 4 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). He made it known that the country’s international reserves reached, in September, US $ 15 billion, corresponding to 11 months of imports, and the country spent, this year, US $ 900 million on the import of food goods.
According to the President, the Government spent 300 million less on food imports compared to 2019, stressing that the country expects to double its wheat flour production capacity, from 600 thousand to one million and 200 thousand tons, starting in 2021 . He also pointed out that around 19 thousand jobs were created in recent months by companies and job centers.
