Luanda, Nov 19 (Prensa Latina) The Angolan government today presented to Parliament a proposal to increase budget expenditures for the social sector in 2020 by about 19 percent compared to the current year.
The initiative was ratified by Minister of Finance Vera Daves, on presenting the draft General State Budget (PGE) for the next fiscal year, submitted to deputies' consideration.
According to the minister, the social sector could receive an amount equivalent to 38 percent of budgetary expenditure, while the economic branch would absorb about 10 percent.
The official confirmed that the oil industry will continue to represent the main source of revenue to the Budget, with tax contributions that should increase by more than 34 percentage points.
Overall, tax revenue must contribute 53.9 percent of budget income, he explained.
Daves also highlighted the executive's aim of deploying a social cash transfer program, which will provide monthly financial resources to nearly one million vulnerable families.
For his part, Minister of State for Economic Coordination, Manuel Nunes Junior evaluated the impacts of the macroeconomic stabilization program implemented as of January last year.
As a result of these measures, the State achieved a positive budget balance in 2018, equivalent to 2.2 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and preliminary data for the first half of 2019 also showed a positive trend in the order of 1.3 percent, he said.
The draft Budget for 2020 also provides for a budget surplus for an amount similar to 1.2 percent of GDP, which, he said, is favorable, since it means that the country will have less need to borrow.
Nunes Junior recalled that the economic-financial crisis that began in 2014 meant a drastic reduction in the income of the Angolan State, which led to the accumulation of high budget deficits, as expenses were not reduced in the same proportion as revenue.
In 2014, he explained, the deficit was 5.7 percent of GDP; in 2016 3.8 percent and 6.3 percent in 2017, and all those deficits were financed by increasing State debt.
In this way, the debt-to-GDP ratio rose from 30 percent in 2013 to around 90 percent today, the official explained, who confirmed the aim of reducing this to around 60 percent by 2022.
He also reiterated the government decision to boost the diversification of the national economy, promote import substitution, stimulate employment and encourage production of goods and services for export.
rly/cg/sus/jha/mjm
According to the minister, the social sector could receive an amount equivalent to 38 percent of budgetary expenditure, while the economic branch would absorb about 10 percent.
The official confirmed that the oil industry will continue to represent the main source of revenue to the Budget, with tax contributions that should increase by more than 34 percentage points.
Overall, tax revenue must contribute 53.9 percent of budget income, he explained.
Daves also highlighted the executive's aim of deploying a social cash transfer program, which will provide monthly financial resources to nearly one million vulnerable families.
For his part, Minister of State for Economic Coordination, Manuel Nunes Junior evaluated the impacts of the macroeconomic stabilization program implemented as of January last year.
As a result of these measures, the State achieved a positive budget balance in 2018, equivalent to 2.2 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and preliminary data for the first half of 2019 also showed a positive trend in the order of 1.3 percent, he said.
The draft Budget for 2020 also provides for a budget surplus for an amount similar to 1.2 percent of GDP, which, he said, is favorable, since it means that the country will have less need to borrow.
Nunes Junior recalled that the economic-financial crisis that began in 2014 meant a drastic reduction in the income of the Angolan State, which led to the accumulation of high budget deficits, as expenses were not reduced in the same proportion as revenue.
In 2014, he explained, the deficit was 5.7 percent of GDP; in 2016 3.8 percent and 6.3 percent in 2017, and all those deficits were financed by increasing State debt.
In this way, the debt-to-GDP ratio rose from 30 percent in 2013 to around 90 percent today, the official explained, who confirmed the aim of reducing this to around 60 percent by 2022.
He also reiterated the government decision to boost the diversification of the national economy, promote import substitution, stimulate employment and encourage production of goods and services for export.
rly/cg/sus/jha/mjm
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