The Angolan government has collected, since 2019, 567 billion kwanzas (1 billion euros) with the privatisation of 96 assets, under the Privatisation Programme (Propriv), which may be extended for another five years, an official announced today.
The information was provided today by the Secretary of State for Finance and Treasury, Ottoniel dos Santos, at the end of a meeting to assess the ongoing privatisation programme of state companies and assets.
Propriv, run by the Institute for the Management of State Assets and Participations (IGAPE), started in 2019 with a total of 195 companies and assets for privatization, having been left with a total of 178 assets, after undergoing changes.
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Ottoniel dos Santos mentioned that, of the 567 billion kwanzas invested, a total of 394 billion kwanzas (750.8 million euros) are yet to be contractually received, with some installments already due, amounting to 15.1 million kwanzas (28.7 thousand euros).
According to the Angolan governor, 96 companies and assets have been privatized so far, leaving 82 assets, of which 27 are currently in progress, 31 are pending and 25 have yet to be removed from the privatization program.
The Secretary of State for Finance and the Treasury pointed out that the assets that are still to be privatized, and which have their processes underway, will be developed during this first quarter, while the other processes should be adjusted.
“Here we are referring namely to processes that depend on legal intervention, others, on some adjustment from the organizational point of view of the companies so that they can be privatized and finally formalize the withdrawal of 24 assets from Propriv. Twenty-four plus one, that today at the level of the meeting was also deliberated its withdrawal,” he stressed, without further details.
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Regarding the new assets to be inserted, Ottoniel dos Santos advanced that they will be initially 68, including those that were still in progress in the first cycle and those that derive from asset recovery processes, which the State wants to privatize, as well as surveys made by provincial governments and sectorial managers, who understand that certain assets can pass to the private sphere.
With the sale of companies and assets a total of 2,747 jobs have already been guaranteed, of which 1,462 are new and 1,285 previously existing, he said.
The Angolan governor also said that it will be proposed to extend the program for another five years, throughout the mandate, for two fundamental reasons: first, the set of processes of the cycle that now ends that are still to be concluded and, second, because of the new assets that will be inserted in the program.
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Ottoniel dos Santos said that among the companies proposed to be removed from Propriv, some have little capacity to attract the private sector and other companies should be liquidated.
Ottoniel dos Santos made a positive balance of Propriv taking into account the conjuncture experienced in the last five years, marked by the covid-19 pandemic, the phase of restructuring and reforms that Angola is implementing.
“Adding these two groups [the privatized assets and those that have processes underway] and taking into account the total assets that were to be privatized, we predict a percentage of 69% of effectiveness of the program. I think that for a first systematized experience – because Angola has already had other privatization processes (…) – given the circumstances I mentioned, the program is having a promising result,” he stressed.
*With Lusa
