New York - The United Nations General Assembly on Monday approved a draft resolution postponing Angola's graduation to Middle Income Country (MIC) scheduled for February 2024.
The draft resolution A/78/L.29 on the Postponement of Angola's Graduation from the Least Developed Country category was presented by the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Angolan Mission to the United Nations in New York, Francisco José da Cruz.
According to the Angolan diplomat, the country’s graduation was scheduled for February 2024, however, multiple shocks such as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, unstable oil prices on the international market, severe droughts, rising food prices and currency devaluation made the transition process unfeasible.
"As a result, the Gross National Income per capita is below the graduation criteria," the diplomat said.
The diplomat explained that the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) recommended the General Assembly to postpone Angola's graduation to a later date to enable the Committee for Development Policy (CDP) to better consider the country's economic situation and its smooth transition strategy.
Following the presentation of the CDP Report, the diplomat said, the Angolan government activated Article 284 of the Doha Program of Action and began consultations, through the Enhanced Mechanism.
According to Francisco José da Cruz, following consultations, the Angolan government and the CPD agreed to withdraw the country from the graduation process, taking into account the current socio-economic challenges that have disrupted its development progress.
The diplomat reiterated Angola’s commitment to graduating to MIC status, underlining that it poses an important step for the country's sustainable development strategy, which adopted the National Development Plan 2023-2027 as a medium-term planning instrument to implement the Long-Term Strategy "Angola 2050".
The diplomat said that both strategies are fully aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the African Union's Agenda 2063 and the Doha Action Program.
In March 2012, the Committee for Development Policy of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs considered Angola eligible for graduating to middle income country, exceptionally only on the basis of the "Income per Capita" criterion, leaving aside the other two, namely the Human Assets and Economic Vulnerability Indices. MV/AMP
