Luanda, Sept. 17, 2026 (Lusa) - The Managing Director of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) said Thursday that Angola is one of the World Bank Group's top priorities and praised the projects underway in the Portuguese-speaking country.
Tsutomu Yamamoto was speaking in an interview with Lusa following a four-day visit to Angola, where he toured several projects, including the BITA water supply scheme in southern Luanda and the Lobito Corridor, which links the Angolan port to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as part of a railway project extending as far as Zambia.
«My main conclusion at the end of the visit is the confirmation that Angola is one of the World Bank Group's top priorities,» he said.
The Director-General of the World Bank agency responsible for facilitating and financing private-sector investment in countries said that this multilateral institution is «enthusiastic about the opportunities to support Angola's energy transition ambitions, through the Mission 300 initiative to transform smallholder agriculture via AgriConnect, to strengthen water security, and to boost regional connectivity and trade in minerals essential for the energy transition by supporting the Lobito Corridor».
This corridor, he argued, is «an economic corridor due to the opportunities it creates along the more than 1,000-kilometre route from Lobito to the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and then on to Zambia».
In October, the Japanese economist added that Zambia will host a meeting to discuss the World Bank's involvement in expanding the project to the mining region in this African country, which borders Mozambique.
The group also intends to capitalise on «opportunities for food security and employment, and the creation of jobs offered by Angola's agro-industrial sector», said Yamamoto, highlighting the country's 58 million hectares of land and its favourable agricultural and climatic conditions.
«Agriculture provides fresh food to more than half the workforce, and productivity has room to grow; Angola spends approximately $3 billion [€2.6 billion] a year on food imports,» he noted, highlighting the benefits of the programmes to support domestic production that the World Bank is currently implementing in this Portuguese-speaking country.
In June, the Angolan government and the World Bank launched the Agriconnect Compact, a national framework to boost production, a model that Yamamoto says will create 700,000 jobs, generate up to $2.2 billion (almost €2 billion) in annual value added, and mobilise $1.45 billion (€1.2 billion) in public and private funds.
Asked about Angola's economic situation, the day after the National Bank of Angola revised its GDP growth forecast upwards to over 6 per cent this year, Yamamoto said economic stability, alongside a robust legal framework, is important for attracting foreign investment.
«Private investors need physical infrastructure, electricity, transport networks, ports, and, with a sound, predictable and enforceable legal framework, the private sector can confidently consider investing in these countries; in the case of Angola, we have seen that the country has these foundations in place and the economic situation is improving and stabilising, with a growth rate underpinned by the non-oil sector, inflation falling and the public debt ratio remaining stable», after having stood at over 100% at the start of the decade.
«We are at a stage where private investors can consider investing in Angola; I see great potential, and I believe it is likely that this country will undergo a transformation, gaining access to energy, in particular, and water security in the coming years,» the Director-General of MIGA told Lusa at the end of his visit to the country.
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