- The Ministry of Finance took note, with concern, of a news item that has been circulating with an incorrect interpretation of the meaning of words of the Minister of Finance during her recent intervention in the National Assembly, at the time of the final vote on the General State Budget – OGE 2021.
2. It is, therefore, necessary to clarify the following:
I. The approach to public debt must be carried out within the canons of economic science, with differentiation being made between financial debt and commercial debt. In this way, it seems important to note that the reference to financial debt refers to debt securities (bonds, treasury bills, and Eurobonds) and credits contracted with Angolan, international banks, and multilateral organizations. In turn, commercial debt refers to charges incurred by the State for works or payment for goods and services. Due to the long period in which this debt accumulated, it was agreed to designate it as “arrears”.
II. In 2018, the then Secretary of State for Finance and Treasury, currently the Minister of Finance, coordinated the creation of the Technical Group to Support the State’s Lender, with the aim of implementing the Late Payment Regularization Strategy. One of the main lines of work of this Strategy was to audit the claimed debt that was not registered in the system, before its recognition. From this process, it was found at the time that about 25% of the claimed debt did not meet the assumptions for its validation.
III. The recent observation made by the Minister of Finance, in her intervention in the National Assembly, fundamentally referred to the “financial debt”, whose contracting process obeys strict legal precepts that guarantee its regularity.
IV. The Ministry of Finance considers the continuous pursuit of improving the quality of expenditure to be critical and calls on public managers to strictly comply with the rules of execution of the State Budget.
INSTITUTIONAL AND PRESS COMMUNICATION OFFICE in Luanda, 16 December 2020.
