Luanda, Sept. 11, 2024 (Lusa) - Angola's state treasury received 6.5 billion kwanzas (€6.4 million) in dividends from public enterprises in 2023, but paid out 207.5 billion kwanzas (€204.8 million) to such companies, the government said on Wednesday.
The minister of finance, Vera Daves de Sousa, speaking at the opening of the Public Business Sector (SEP) Meeting to present the 2023 SEP Aggregate Report, said that this inflow represented an increase of 197.8% on the amount received in 2022.
"However, the difference between the amounts received and those disbursed by the state, in the order of 207.5 billion kwanzas, should continue to hold our attention, given the opportunity costs involved," said Daves de Sousa.
The minister emphasised that this scenario is impacted by the enlargement of the SEP universe, resulting from the asset recovery process and the implementation of public policies, which has increased the number of companies from 88 in 2021 and 92 in 2022 to 94 last year.
According to Daves de Sousa, these figures call for continued efforts to make companies financially autonomous, through their own operations, in order to relieve the state of the burdens they represent.
"Burdens that are - as I said, and I emphasise - a very high opportunity cost, given the state's responsibilities in terms of providing development infrastructures and supplying public services, as well as being a perennial source of fiscal risk," said the minister, stressing that "companies must always bear in mind the assumptions of efficiency as the primary objective of the sustainability of their operations."
She called on companies to gradually improve their management in the light of the current legal paradigm, even though the reform process is still underway.
"Within the framework of the ongoing reform, we maintain our invitation to all stakeholders to make determined progress towards resolving the constraints that still persist in the SEP," said Daves de Sousa.
The minister emphasised that the challenges have already been identified and explained in the Roadmap for Reform outlined for the SEP in January 2022, which among other things foresees by 2025 a smaller number of public enterprises; the segregation of the state's functions as regulator, supervisor and shareholder; and the restructuring and reorganisation of the accounts of weakened companies.
NME/ARO // ARO.
Lusa
