Author: anadmin

Luanda – Credit granted to the real economy, by commercial banks, is now in the order of 528.83 billion kwanzas (equivalent to USD 818.62 million), since the National Bank of Angola’s (BNA) Notice 10/20 came into effect.

In June of this year, a total of 17 new loans were disbursed to the real sector of the economy, totalling 247 loans granted, of which 181 with effective disbursements.

The note from the National Bank of Angola, to which Angop had access, noted that the amount disbursed by commercial banks, until June, totalled Kz 295.98 billion, representing a rise of 21.43 billion kwanzas (7.8 percent), versus May of the same year.

The beneficiaries of the loans disbursed are large companies with 62.25% (184.10 billion Kwanzas), followed by medium sized companies with 35.54% (105.11 billion Kwanzas) and small and micro companies with 2.02% (5.98 billion Kwanzas) and 0.18% (535.74 billion Kwanzas), respectively.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Luanda – The President of Cabo Verde, Carlos Fonseca, this Friday in Luanda, expressed his country’s intention to create a “solid” partnership with Angola in the air transport sector.

Carlos Fonseca, who is in the Angolan capital to take part in the 13th Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP), was speaking to the press at the end of a meeting with the speaker o the National Assembly, Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos.

“We spoke about cooperation relations between Angola and Cape Verde and the prospects in several areas, particularly air transport,” he said, noting that the partnership in this area benefited both countries, mainly the business sector.

In his turn, the leader of the Angolan parliament noted the importance of cooperation between the two states.

In June of this year, after an audience with Angolan President, João Lourenço, on Sal Island, Cape Verdean Prime Minister, Ulisses Correia e Silva, said that Angola and Cape Verde intended to resume economic cooperation, affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly in air and sea transport.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Luanda – Angola and Portugal Friday in Luanda signed a Protocol to Facilitate National Visas and an Agreement on Reciprocal Protection of Investments.

The signatories on the Angolan side were Foreign Minister, Téte António, and his Portuguese counterpart, Augusto Santos Silva.

On the occasion, the head of Angolan diplomacy also witnessed the signing of a partnership agreement between the Ministry of Education and the Portuguese Institute of Cooperation and Language, called “Saber Mais”.

Speaking to the press, Téte António said that the protocol will make “life easier” for people who intend to travel for health, work and study reasons, for a short duration.

Considering that the same happens, precisely, at a time when the two countries are discussing the increase of the economic and social cooperation.

Regarding the agreement signed in the area of education, he said that this will provide young people with quality knowledge, so that they may face life in a more efficient way.

Augusto Santos Silva highlighted the fact that the protocol signed is related to procedures that allow the reduction of the necessary documents and, consequently, the facilitation in obtaining short term visas.

He explained that, in this specific case, the European Union legislation prevails and the agreement was authorised by the European Commission.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Luanda – Angolan Foreign Minister, Téte António, said Friday that concerted political actions by the Member States of the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP) were necessary to tackle the negative effects of Covid-19.

Speaking at the opening of the 26th Ordinary Meeting of the CPLP Council of Ministers, Téte António said that the actions should also be inclusive, with technical and financial support to the poorest and most vulnerable countries.

The head of Angolan diplomacy considered the effects of the pandemic to be “disastrous” for the organisation’s member countries, with the loss of human lives, the rise in unemployment and poverty.

In the minister’s opinion, the difficulties imposed by the pandemic should be seen as a real opportunity for cooperation between member states, for the benefit of economic and social development.

At the meeting in which Angola takes over the presidency of the Council of Ministers of the CPLP, Téte António addressed a word of appreciation to the associated observers of the community, so that government plans with identical objectives to those of the CPLP are pursued.

He underlined the work done by Cape Verde’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Communities and Regional Integration, Rui Alberto de Figueiredo Soares, at the head of the Community’s Council of Ministers since 2018.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

WASHINGTON – World leaders said in a statement issued after a virtual meeting of the Asia-Pacific trade group APEC that extensive COVID-19 immunization is a global public good and accelerating access to vaccines is essential to overcoming the health emergency.

In a statement posted Friday on the APEC website after a virtual meeting hosted by New Zealand, the leaders of the 21-member group vowed to redouble efforts to expand vaccine manufacture and supply and said they would continue to support economies for as long as necessary.

U.S. President Joe Biden, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping and other world leaders took part in the meeting seeking collective actions to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impacts.

Source: Voice Of America

Oliver Daemen, 18, received exciting news Thursday from the Blue Origin flight team: He will be flying into space on July 20.

Daemen, who will attend Utrecht University in the Netherlands this fall, will be the youngest person to reach space when he departs on Blue Origin’s New Shepard flight. A press release from his family said that Daemen has “been dreaming about this all [his] life.”

Blue Origin announced Thursday that an originally scheduled passenger would be unable to take the flight to the edge of space because of scheduling conflicts. The anonymous winner of the company’s public auction spent $28 million for the seat next to Bezos. Until then, Daemen was scheduled to travel on Blue Origin’s second flight after unsuccessfully bidding on the auction.

Daemen’s father, Joes Daemen, is the CEO of an investment firm in the Netherlands, and Blue Origin declined to disclose what he paid for the flight. The person who purchased the $28 million ticket remains anonymous.

Donations to nonprofits

The company stated that $19 million of the auction’s proceeds would be donated to 19 space-specific nonprofit organizations, each receiving $1 million. The chosen associations include AstraFemina, a group of women in science and technology dedicated to providing young girls with role models, and the Brook Owens Fellowship, a mentorship program for undergraduate female students interested in space exploration.

Also making history is Mary Wallace “Wally” Funk, 82, who will become the oldest person to fly into space. Bezos announced on Instagram that Funk would be an “honored guest” for the first Blue Origin flight.

Funk participated in the privately funded Mercury 13 program in 1961 that trained women to go to space. The 13 women received the same preparation as NASA astronauts but were ultimately refused employment because of their gender. Funk was the youngest to graduate from the course and reportedly was told that she “completed the work faster than any of the guys.”

The three passengers will be joined by Bezos’ brother, Mark, on Blue Origin’s inaugural flight.

Source: Voice Of America

NAIROBI – The World Health Organization has warned that COVID-19 is gaining ground in Africa, with the death toll jumping 43% in the past week. WHO says the continent recorded 1 million new cases in just one month, with several countries facing shortages of oxygen and beds for patients.

Speaking during a virtual press briefing Thursday, Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director, said Africa is recording its highest number of COVID-19 cases since the virus hit the continent in early 2020.

“Over the past month, Africa recorded an additional 1 million cases,” Moeti said. “This is the shortest time it has taken so far to add one1 million cases. Comparatively, it took around three months to move from 4 million to 5 million cases. This COVID-19 resurgence is the fastest the continent has seen.”

The global health agency says 12 African countries are experiencing an upward trend of coronavirus, including Algeria, Malawi, Senegal and Zimbabwe.

Moeti says the number of Africans losing lives to the virus is high.

“As this surge sweeps across Africa, we are witnessing a brutal cost, and life-lost deaths have climbed steeply for the past five weeks, jumping 40 percent in the past week,” Moeti said. “This is a clear warning our hospitals are at a breaking point. In all, 153,000 people have sadly died. Africa is just 1 percent shy of the peak in fatalities reached in January.”

The increase in deaths is partly blamed on the delta coronavirus variant that medical experts say is the most transmittable of all the variants. It has been reported in 21 African countries.

Namibia is one African country where the total number of COVID-19 positives is on the decline. However, more than 1,000 people have died there from COVID-19 in the last month.

Ismail Katjitae is a physician at the Ministry of Health and Social Services in Namibia. He explains why the death rate is so high.

“A high prevalence of comorbidities in some communities, limited capacity in some districts and regions to manage severe and critical cases,” Katjitae said. “And a strong misinformation lobby resulting in noncompliance with public health measures, underutilizing available health care services, and delayed complicated presentation in our health facilities.”

So far, only 18 million people out of the 1.3 billion living in Africa have been vaccinated. Some African countries blame the slow vaccination process on the shortage of vaccine doses in the global market.

Catherine Kyobutungi is the head of the African Population and Health Research Center. She says African governments should ask their citizens to follow health protocols like washing hands and wearing masks to limit the spread of the virus.

“Other than the usual measures, Africa does not have too many options without really having much of its population vaccinated,” Kyobutungi said. “So, the hope is that in the next month around August, many countries will receive at least substantial doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, but before then, keeping in place the usual measures.”

Most African countries have eased health measures meant to combat the spread of the virus for economic reasons, and failure to follow those measures is blamed for the spread.

Some African countries expect to get hundreds of thousands of vaccines in the coming weeks as the Aspen pharmaceutical company in South Africa begins producing 400 million vaccines.

Source: Voice of America