The Angolan Minister of Planning said today that Angola has only disbursed around 26% of the 1.5 billion dollars (1.4 billion euros) made available by the African Development Bank (AfDB) for the country.
Victor Hugo Guilherme met today with the vice-president of this international financial organisation, Marie-Laure Olugbade, stressing that the AfDB’s priorities for Angola are the same as those that the Lusophone country has for its development.
According to a statement from the Angolan Ministry of Planning, the AfDB has a portfolio of projects in Angola in the fisheries, agriculture, environment, finance, social, energy, water and sanitation sectors.
The Angolan minister emphasised that “the portfolio of these 11 projects has a cost of around 1.5 billion dollars”.
“It’s worth noting that of these 1.5 billion dollars, to date we’ve only disbursed around 400 million dollars (375.8 million euros). It’s a disbursement far short of what was expected,” said Victor Hugo Guilherme, in statements broadcast by Rádio Nacional de Angola.
The AfDB vice-president said that last week the bank had approved its project implementation strategy for Angola for the 2024-2029 period, congratulating the Angolan government on its efforts to diversify the economy, particularly in the agriculture sector.
“We also want to facilitate the creation of decent jobs for young people,” said Marie-Laure Olugbade, who is on a working visit to Angola until Friday.
According to a note from the Ministry of Planning, the two leaders met with the aim of continuing the dialogue that began between the Angolan government and the AfDB’s management during the institution’s annual meetings, held in Nairobi, Kenya, between 27 and 31 May, on the bank’s support partnership for the country’s development policies and initiatives.
The AfDB’s mission programme includes, among other activities, meetings with the Minister of State for Economic Coordination, José de Lima Massano, the Minister of Finance and AfDB Alternate Governor, Vera Daves de Sousa, the Minister of Energy and Water, João Baptista Borges, and the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Francisco de Assis, among other government entities.
Lusa
