Luanda, May 6, 2025 (Lusa) - Angolan businesspeople have applauded the measure suspending import licences for wheat and corn flour, refined oils and other products, considering that the government initiative should encourage domestic production and productivity.
For the president of the Association of Baking and Pastry Industries of Angola (AIPPA), Gilberto Simão, the measure is to be praised for reflecting nationalism and patriotism.
Speaking to Lusa, Gilberto Simão praised the president for the initiative and the Minister of Industry and Trade for his "courage". He considered that the measure should have been implemented a long time ago and that it contributes to diversifying the economy and increasing domestic production and productivity.
The Angolan businessman linked to the primary, industrial and commercial sectors added that the authorities' initiative should also curb the “unfair competition” that he said existed in the import of maize.
"I have contacts with large maize producers who sometimes have silos full of maize they can't sell because of unfair competition from imported maize. So it's a good measure," he insisted.
Last month Angola's Ministry of Industry and Trade ordered the suspension of import licences for wheat flour, corn flour, refined sunflower, palm and soya oils, school and professional gowns, uniforms, including those for military and police use, confectionery products, plasterboard and hospital consumables.
According to the directive dated 30 April, the measure comes from a presidential decree that approved the Legal Regime for Incentives to National Production "as an economic policy instrument aimed at promoting and significantly increasing the domestic supply of widely consumed goods, with a consequent gradual reduction in imports and diversification of exports".
According to the president of AIPPA, globalisation is an "economic phenomenon that doesn't allow Angola to produce and diversify its economy," above all because oil, the country's biggest source of revenue, "pays the price". He welcomed the measure as a step towards diversifying the economy.
Gilberto Simão also defended measures to regulate wheat imports, noting that Angola spends between $300 million and $400 million a year (roughly the same amount in euros) on imports of this cereal, suggesting that the country doesn't have enough wheat production to meet 10% of its domestic needs "because the import lobbies won't let it".
The order from the Ministry of Industry and Trade was also noted with satisfaction by the president of the Association of Industrialists of Angola (AIA), José Severino, for whom the Angolan government is committed to defending national production.
The businessman said that the commitment to defending national production involves using all the instruments that make this possible (such as the order mentioned earlier), noting, however, that this is a suspension, not a ban.
"Note that it's a suspension, not a ban. The way the order appears makes it seem like a radical ban, but it's not. We've already had a dialogue with the Minister [of Industry and Trade], because AIA is against bans (...)," he told Lusa.
On the other hand, José Severino defended that the suspension would not prevent processes already underway from being authorised, noting that there are imports that are "useful for containing presumed price speculation and the low quality of locally produced products".
"When we try to defend our production, we cannot create a position that we are sanctioning third parties, exporters, countries. Governments cannot perceive this, that we are sanctioning them for any reason. No, Angola does not sanction," concluded the AIA leader.
DAS/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
