The Government’s Midterm Plan, containing the Policy and Actions measures to be executed has been approved until the approval of the National Development Plan 2018- 2022.
The Plan is due to enter into force until the first quarter of 2018 and it identifies 88 actions;
- Public Expenses Control;
- Revision of the Public and Private Partnerships Law;
- Public-Private Partnerships on infrastructure investments and in the supplying of essential public goods and services;
- Public and Administrative Sector Adjustments;
- Increase tax rates on alcoholic beverages, night houses, gambling and lottery, luxury products with the possibility of allocating part of the income to finance public health;
- Approval of regulation approving the IVA (Value-added Tax);
- Strengthening the Financial Sector implementing new surveillance mechanisms;
- Assessment of vulnerability of every and any commercial Bank;
- Exports Promotion and Substitution of the imports;
- Diversification of the Economy: Agriculture, Fishery Sector, Tourism, Construction, Manufacturing Industry and Trading Services;
- Tax credit for activities such as agriculture of medium and large scale and fishery;
- Reduction on the Port fees;
- Approval of the New Standardized Customs Tariff;
- Investments in petrochemical refineries;
- Simplification of the process of granting propriety rights and real state bonds;
This actions plan will immediately introduce economic policy measures, that will positively change the economic agents expectations, create credibility and confidence in the new Government and conduct the macroeconomic stability and establishment of a favorable environment for economic growth, employment creation and mitigation of the country’s more permanent social problems.
The Plan was defined through a “Macro-economic and social situation diagnostic”, that evaluated the main impact factors on the economic growth, such as: inflation; tax system and the monetary and exchange rate policy; the balance of payments and the social sector. The diagnostic concluded that, due to (i) ineffective monetary policy and tax expansionary measures, (ii) segmented exchange market and (iii) a banking system centered and inefficient, the Angolan economy achieved a state of “stagflation”.
Macroeconomic stabilization, exchange market reunification, inflation, tax reduction, private investment maximization and incentive and improvement of the social indicators are the intended the Economic Policy consolidation factors for the final quarter of 2017 and first of 2018 as well as the “formula” to relaunch the Angola’s economy, through identified actions.
Content provided by LEX Africa Angola member Faria De Bastos & Lopes.
