[2019-10-16] Angola’s economy creates more than 161,000 jobs in 21 months

Source: Macauhub

Angola’s economy created nearly 162,000 jobs between the beginning of 2018 and the third quarter of 2019, almost a third of the government’s forecast for the 2018/2022 five-year period, President João Lourenço said in Luanda on Tuesday in his State of the Nation address at the opening of the new parliamentary year.

The President, who gave assurances that Angola will resume the path of economic growth from 2020, said that 80.3% of jobs created in that period were in the public and private business sector and the remaining 19.7% in the public sector.

Lourenço, quoted by Angolan state news agency Angop, said that the Retail sector created the most jobs, followed by Construction and Public Works, Transport, Agriculture and Industry.

Addressing members of parliament, the President of the Republic recalled that the economic crisis that began in 2014 with the fall in oil prices was further aggravated by a rise in public debt, which now represents about 90% of Gross Domestic Product and added that in order to escape the “debt trap”, debt servicing has reached 51% of the State General Budget expenditure.

“The previous budget deficit is currently a surplus, which makes it possible to reduce the use of public debt,” Lourenço told MPs, reiterating that the focus of his governance is to revive and diversify the economy, with growth resuming from 2020.

The President predicted a one-digit reduction in the inflation rate by the end of the current term, based on the 12-month inflation rate, which has been on a downward path.

Between October 2018 and October this year, the inflation rate stood at 17.24%, 1.36 percentage points lower than in the same period of 2018, which was 18.6%.

The cumulative inflation rate was 42% in 2016 and 23.7% in 2017, and Lourenço pledged to continue to drive fiscal, monetary and exchange rate policy towards a return to single-digit annual inflation rates by 2022.

He pointed out the reforms in the field of legislation and the opening up of the market, highlighting the approval of the Private Investment Law and the Competition Law, to make Angola a prime investment destination.