Luanda - The Angolan Cabinet Council this Monday in Luanda assessed the proposed General State Budget (OGE) for the 2024 Economic Year, which includes estimated revenues of 24.6 billion Kwanzas and expenses set at the same amount for the same period.
The State Budget, whose proposal will be sent to the National Assembly on Tuesday, is the main instrument for programming the State's economic and financial policy, which expresses, in terms of values, the action plan to be carried out and determines the sources of financing.
According to the final document of the 4th extraordinary session, guided by the President of the Republic, the OGE-2024 presents the estimate of revenues and the limits for the execution of expenses set for the 2024 economic year.
At the end of the meeting, the minister of Finance, Vera Daves, told the press that the State Budget proposal presents several assumptions, one of them related to GDP growth, with a forecast of a growth rate of 2.84%, based, exclusively, on the performance of the non-oil sector, which foresees some active policy measures that will grow by 4.62%, while the non-oil sector is expected to have a negative performance (a decrease) of 2.5%.
Of the 24.6 billion Kwanzas, fiscal expenditure is expected to be 59.3% and 40.7% of financial expenditure, respectively, predicting a balanced budget of around 0.02% of fiscal balance.
Social expenditure, despite the growth in financial expenditure, was protected as much as possible with a forecast increase of 1% compared to the 2023 State Budget, despite the share of the Budget allocated to financial expenditure having increased.
As risks, the minister pointed to the geopolitical environment that could change the price of raw materials, changing the price of oil that will have an impact from the perspective of executing the State Budget, as well as exchange rate volatility.
The State Budget proposal is based on assumptions related to oil production of 1.060.000 barrels/day and the reference price per barrel of US $65 to avoid stress scenarios in the event of any type of slippage in any indicator, be it in production or with regard to performance in the non-oil sector and thus have relative stability in the flow of tax revenue.
Economic projections for the year 2024 were prepared based on a projected inflation of about 16.6 %.
Furthermore, GDP is expected to grow 2.8% in real terms, supported solely and exclusively by the non-oil sector, which is expected to grow 4.6%, while oil production is expected to register a drop of around 2. 6%, including gas production, projected to decrease the oil sector by 2.5%.
Recognizing the challenges facing the national economy, the Executive presents, in the State Budget proposal for 2024, a broad package of temporary, permanent and structural measures, which will seek to embody the need to strengthen the income of families and workers and boost their access for people, more investment in the economy and companies and a more sustainable General State Budget.
The Executive, within the scope of 2024 General State Budget, will continue to protect the most vulnerable, and therefore reaffirms its commitment to increasingly expand the Kwenda Program, aiming for greater coverage of families in this social assistance program characterised by monetary transfers to vulnerable households.
Regarding the real economy, the Angola Executive is betting, among others, on increasing the production capacity and supply of goods and services, in a diversified and inclusive way, and on mitigating the risks of food insecurity and food self-sufficiency.
The investment aims to achieve the aspirations of reducing dependence on oil, enshrined in the 2023-2027 National Development Plan, the Policy to Support Production, Diversification of Exports and Substitution of Imports, to be implemented through different economic programs in the most varied sectors of the economy.
PA/VM/CF/jmc
