BAD invested 2.5 billion for the development of Angola

Dand according to the resident representative of the BAD in Angola, Pietro Toigo, the $2.9 billion (€2.5 billion) invested in the African Portuguese-speaking country, represented an exponential growth in the last decade.

These investments “show how the multilateral system and, in particular, the BAD can be a viable financial solution to support Angola’s economic diversification strategy”.

This support “has materialized in strategic sectors such as energy, agriculture, water and sanitation, governance, youth and entrepreneurship, innovation and private sector development”, at the launch ceremony of the Development Efficacy Review Report in Angola 2016-2025,

In turn, the Secretary of State for Planning of Angola, Luís Epalanga, highlighted the importance of the report and the partnership with the BAD and realized that throughout the decade 1.3 million people began to have access to electricity, about 550,000 people had improved access to water and almost 30,000 people benefited from better sanitation conditions.

In agriculture, some 50,000 farmers adopted more productive and climate-resilient technologies, “contributing to increasing productive capacity, food security and improving the incomes of rural families,” the governor said.

Luís Epalanga stated that the partnership with the BAD has also contributed to the strengthening of the capacity of the State and to the creation of a more favourable institutional environment for economic transformation.

The representative of the BAD considered that the report offers an opportunity to recognise the work carried out during this period.

“It is also a celebration of a partnership with Angola that continues to grow and deepen,” he noted, referring that more important than the volume of funding mobilized and the amounts disbursed “are the results achieved”.

It stressed that investments, between 2016 and 2025, resulted in families with more access to water, energy and sanitation, vulnerable girls who benefited from scholarships, farmers with access to new technologies and funding.

Toigo also expressed a desire to continue to improve agility in the implementation of projects, reducing the time between approval and the first disbursement, accelerating the hiring processes and strengthening the ability to measure and communicate results.

The BAD representative also acknowledged the need to “accelerate investment in the Angolan private sector”, assuming that the bank’s direct investment in this sector “has remained relatively limited for various structural and regulatory reasons”.

He recalled that, last July, the BAD approved the first investment in the private non-financial sector, noting that the banking institution has a portfolio of projects in preparation in the private sector in excess of USD 1 billion (866 million) with approval potential in the next two years.