Luanda - The director-general of the African Development Bank (AfDB) for Southern Africa, Leila Mokadem, Tuesday praised the Angolan government for the results achieved with the macroeconomic reforms implemented over the last five years.
The AfDB director, who is in Angola for a two-day working visit, met with Finance minister, Vera Daves, with whom she discussed issues related to the progress achieved by the government in the macroeconomic field, in the AfDB financing programme and regarding new cooperation perspectives.
As regard the progress achieved, with emphasis on the fiscal stabilization and diversification of the economy, Leila Mokadem said the AfDB has renewed its support to the Angolan government in most varied domains.
The AfDB official highlighted the support provided to the private sector for its "rapid" integration into the economy, in addition to the promotion of entrepreneurship among young people.
The offcial explained that she is in the country to renew the partnerships between the AfDB and the government, highlighting the continuous investment in the agriculture sector, as she believes it is a crucial sector for the diversification of the national economy.
With a multidimensional approach to agribusiness the AfD provides assistance to water resource management, strengthening of the value chain, infrastructure to support agribusiness, logistics and marketing of agricultural products.
Loan amounts to about 3 billion USD
The AfDB official did not want to talk about the amount of loans to Angola, but official data indicate that it is already around 3 billion dollars in the public sector, a third of which is in projects still underway.
In a recent interview to the Portuguese news outlet Agência Lusa, the AfDB representative in Angola, Pietro Toigo, said the AfDB activity in Angola has increased significantly in the last decade, especially in the last five years, only with projects of the public sector.
According to the official, Angola joined the African Development Bank in the 1980s and since then the financial institution has invested roughly 3 billion dollars in the country, with 53 loans and grants approved.
One third of this amount is related to 11 projects currently being implemented, with emphasis on the energy sector, which absorbs 50% of the total.
Other projects are linked to agriculture (about 12%), water and sanitation (12%), finance (12%) and social (9%) and multi-sector.
The AfDB has said it is preparing the next strategy for Angola, covering the period 2024-2028, and it is expected to present the next financing cycle between July and September 2023.
Project financing depends on the assessment of the country's borrowing capacity and the dialogue with Angolan institutions, in which the strategy to be followed and the priority sectors for the country's development will be defined.
Taking into account the AfDB's priorities in Africa, the highlights goes to the support to industrialization, regional integration, agricultural transformation, improvement of the quality of life, and universal access to electricity.
The projects are developed together with the bank's experts, and then presented before the board of directors, where the 81 shareholders of the financial institution are represented, including 54 African and 27 non-African countries.
