Angola’s industrial production is below the region’s average – consulting firm

The gross value added (GVA) of industrial production in Angola grew by 0.8% in 2021, below the average and in counter-cycle with the sub-Saharan Africa region that increased by 4.8%t, a specialist from a consulting company said today.

Fernando Mascarenhas, who was speaking at the III Industry Forum, organized by the newspaper Expansão, warned that Angola is diverging from the region where it operates regarding industrial production, despite having recovered between 2021 and 2022.

“We are in a counter-cycle, and it is essential to catch this train,” stressed the consultancy firm KPMG partner, indicating that there has been a decrease in the sector GVA since 2018 in absolute values, as well as a loss of relative weight on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The expert pointed to examples from other countries to demonstrate the impact of investments in infrastructure, such as roads, airports, ports, and railroads, on industrial GVA, such as Kenya, where industry GVA grew by 6.9% in 2021, Rwanda (10.5%) or Ethiopia.

On the other hand, he indicated some areas being developed in Angola whose potential should be maximized, such as renewable energy and the creation of industrial parks, stressing that it is essential to increase integration and accelerate the support programs for industrial development.

The Minister of Industry and Trade, Victor Fernandes, welcomed in the opening session of the forum the results of the sector last year, taking into account that the real GDP of the manufacturing industry had an accumulated growth of 7.7% in the last five years and grew about 6% last year, data that had been presented in March by the President of the Republic.

The governor stressed that the political and social stability that Angola has experienced over the past 20 years has allowed the manufacturing industry to establish itself resiliently, despite the constraints of Covid-19 and the global economy, and insisted on the focus on national production, diversification, and non-oil exports.

He also invoked several measures and reforms that the Government has carried out, including in the legal-institutional scope, and that allowed for a perspective of sustained industrial growth in more than 160 projects, contributing to reduce imports and employability.

With information from Lusa

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