The real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate for the Angolan manufacturing industry recorded a cumulative 7.7%, the minister of Industry and Commerce Victor Fernandes has said.

Victor Fernandes was speaking at the opening ceremony of the III Consultative Council of the sector on Thursday, held in Lubango city, southern Huila province.

He said the growth reflected mainly in 2022, which stood at around 6%, surpassing the projection foreseen in the General State Budget (OGE) for that year.

He said in response to the challenge caused by Covid-19 pandemic, the country has recovered its full capacity to supply essential goods and services.

He attributed the capacity to the implementation of public policies for industrial growth and commercial development.

“As a result, trade with regional partners increased significantly, contributing to an increase in the national GDP and the supply of local products at lower prices”, he stressed.

He said that the perspective of growth in the industrial sector was now supported by the existence of a wide range of more than 160 structural projects, in different stages of development.

He cited the existence of sectors in which the national industry is able to respond to the needs of domestic demand, competing with imported products, with stress to building materials, food products, drinks, packaging, graphic activity, furniture and school equipment.

Commerce licenses more than 87,000 outlets in 15 years

In his speech, the minister said that commercial services in Angola registered a significant evolution from 2007 to 2022, with a growth of 109%.

He put at more than 87,000 licensed commercial outlets, between wholesalers and retailers, with a tendency to increase.

Victor Fernandes, who praised the evolution, said that it is as a result of the Executive’s public policies that fostered a growth that was most evident in the northern region of the country, driven by the province of Luanda, followed by the south and center region of Angola.

He defended the need to continue to improve the conditions for the development of the national productive sector, by guaranteeing the availability of raw materials and an effective commercial network, allowing the flow of the said production.

He also referred to the challenges linked to the trading of rural production, due to disconnection between the production areas and the main consumption areas, mostly located in coastal regions or in provincial capitals, supported by an informal commercial network.

The country’s Informal sector continues to be one of the main challenges in terms of trade, he said

The official noted that the legislative adequacy of the industry and commerce sector seems to be relevant due to intra-African integration issues and the need to speed up the process of diversifying the economy and establishing a regulated market economy, which has allowed the formalisation of economic activities.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)