Luanda, Aug. 4, 2025 (Lusa) - The Angolan government announced on Monday that it will make available a credit line of 50 billion kwanzas (€46 million) to support companies vandalised and looted in last week's riots in Angola.
The announcement was made today by the Minister of State for Economic Coordination, José de Lima Massano, who said that the measures are aimed primarily at preserving jobs.
José de Lima Massano stressed that the financing line is intended to enable establishments to quickly resume their activities and pay salaries.
The minister said that around 162 establishments were targeted by these acts and "we do not want to move towards a wave of layoffs", with this support allowing, in particular, the replenishment of stocks.
“The line has a duration of 12 months and the grace period and interest capital is up to nine months, meaning that for some of the acquisitions that will be made under this credit line, particularly in equipment, the managers of these commercial units will negotiate with the financial institutions that will operate this line up to nine months to start repayment,” he stressed.
In the case of using the credit to finance the replenishment of stocks, the grace period is six months.
The financing with an annual interest rate of 5% also allows for the processing of three consecutive salaries, the minister stressed.
The Banco de Poupança e Crédito (BPC), a public financial institution, was chosen by the Angolan government to operate the credit line, and entrepreneurs must submit a statement of complaint to the police in order to access it. In the case of salaries, a payroll for the previous months must be presented.
“The BPC will have up to 20 days – we want it to be shorter – to respond and make the funds available,” he said.
The support is aimed at establishments in the formal sector, so there will be no additional requirements other than guarantees, he added.
“Still on the financial front, we are also making available a line of US$25 million [€21.6 million] for the import of equipment that the country does not have, which is necessary for commercial establishments to quickly start operating,” he said, indicating that goods that the country does not have are also covered.
Businesspeople will be able to access this line with their own resources or based on financing from the 50 billion kwanza line.
On the fiscal front, the government is also allowing for faster recovery of value added tax (VAT) and companies that continue to process wages under these conditions, “while restoring full production capacity,” will be exempt from social security contributions for three wage cycles.
“Therefore, the 8% contribution made by the employer will be borne by the National Social Security Institute so as not to affect these workers’ right to their pensions in the future,” he pointed out.
According to José de Lima Massano, some companies have risk insurance against the acts recorded last week, but will be able to access the credit lines, returning these resources to the State as soon as they are indemnified.
“We must all understand that the 50 billion we are making available to support companies that have suffered damage from acts of vandalism are resources that we are taking from other government programmes, from other government needs, within the scope of the implementation of the General State Budget,” he said.
José de Lima Massano stressed that the aim was essentially to protect jobs, which is the “major concern” at the moment.
“Part of the social problems we are experiencing is precisely linked to this need to create more jobs in the formal sector of the economy, and we must do everything to ensure that this process continues,” he said, adding that in 2024, nearly 300,000 jobs were created in the formal sector of the economy, which is “clearly insufficient”.
In the same year, the informal sector created around 700,000 jobs, but the government's intention is to continue "offering greater dignity to citizens, particularly young people, with employment opportunities," he said.
The meeting, which served to report on the measures adopted by the Angolan executive, was also attended by members of the Association of Modern Trade and Distribution Companies of Angola (Ecodima) and operators in the distribution sector.
In the interaction with operators, it became clear, according to the minister, that there will be no major difficulties with the overall supply of goods, because distribution centres and large warehouses have not been vandalised in a way that could jeopardise distribution and price stability.
NME/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
