Luanda – Ministry of Finance and the French Development Agency for Africa (AFD) signed Thursday in Luanda two financing agreements worth 235 million euros, for budget support and Agricultural Professional Training in the country.
The budget support agreement is estimated at 200 million euros and aims to help the implementation of structural reforms undertaken by the Angolan Government to strengthen the country’s macro-economic framework.
This amount (200 million euros) will be disbursed in three tranches, of which 7.5 million are earmarked for technical assistance, donated by the European Union (EU) in five million and AFD in 2.5 million euros, respectively.
Among other objectives, this loan will affect public policies to make the country less vulnerable to economic shocks and safer to attract international investors.
It will also support the reform of the management and transparency of public finances, the reform of the governance of public companies, the operational and safeguarding of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), as well as support reforms in the financial sector and the National Bank of Angola ( BNA).
Meanwhile, the agreement will mobilise French expertise, through the subsidiary of the AFD group for technical cooperation – “Expertise France”, with the aim of establishing concrete bilateral cooperation in an environment of collaboration between peers.
The second financing agreement, worth 35 million euros, called the Support Project for Agricultural Vocational Training in Angola, aims to revive the network of technical agrarian institutes in the country.
Likewise, contribute to the sustainable development of agricultural production and value chains with the overall objective of reducing food insecurity and poverty in rural areas.
Of the total funding (35 million euros), five million are earmarked for gender and nutrition – a direct donation from the European Union, to support the empowerment of women in rural areas and reduce gender inequalities, as well as develop employability of young people in the agricultural sector.
This programme will benefit 2500 projects in equipment and content from institutes, students, professors and related parties. In this sense, 12 agricultural technical institutes will be rehabilitated and expanded, with 1,800 places in open boarding schools.
The Minister of Finance, Vera Daves, who signed the agreement on behalf of the Republic of Angola, said that the budget support served to boost the reforms of the Angolan Executive enshrined in the 2022 State Budget (OGE).
The official highlighted the technical assistance and referred that in addition to the AFD, she will also have the support of the World Bank, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the European Union, as an added value in this programme.
As for the Vocational Training agreement, which is in line with the diversification of the country’s economy, Vera Daves said that the objective is to strengthen the creation of specialised capacities within the framework of agrarian development in Angola.
In turn, AFD’s regional director for Southern Africa, Christian Yoka, considered the budget support project a strategic collaboration that aims to improve the macro-economic framework, making it robust in the face of economic shocks and reassuring investors and partners towards a more sustainable trajectory.
The ceremony was attended by ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries, and of Education, António Assis and Luísa Grilo, respectively.
French ambassador to Angola Daniel Vosgien, and the director of AFD in Angola Louis-Antoine Souchet also witnessed the event.
This project is a partnership aimed at more sustainable development and fulfills the commitments made by France and Angola at the end of the summit on May 18, 2021, in Paris, on the financing of African economies.
Source: Angola Press News Agency
